Purgatory
by dpphan333
Summary: .AU.DxS. Daniel Fenton, in order to save Samantha Manson's life, ends up dying heroicly. Which leads to Sam try something drastic to bring him back, leaving him in a combination of life and death...a state of limbo; half-human and half-ghost. HIATUS
1. Danger, Death, & Revival 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I also don't own the redesigns. The redesigns are owned by _Sakuyamon_on Deviantart. I also don't own some of the ideas here, which are owned by _Sakuyamon_ as well. I do, however, own the character's slightly altered AU personalities..._

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_**Act 1: Danger, Death, and Revival**_

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**Chapter 1**

"Yo Danny Fenton, he was just fourteen..."—_Danny Phantom theme song_

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Daniel 'Danny' Fenton was your everyday, average fifteen-year-old teenaged boy. He had icy blue eyes and blonde hair. It was another average school day, and he walking down the hallways of Casper High, the only high school in Amity Park. He is wearing a white t-shirt with the Casper High logo on the front (a red dot with a white C in it), blue jeans, and red and white sneakers. A red backpack is strapped to his back.

His best—and only—friends followed him. They were Samantha '_Sam_' (_don't _call her Samantha) Manson and Tuckard 'Tucker' Foley were at his sides. Tucker was on his left, Sam on his right.

Tucker was Danny's African-American best friend since sixth grade and Sam's friend since first grade. Tucker has black hair and green eyes. Tucker's been afraid of her since they met, though he'd never admit it aloud. He considered himself a ladies man, and has flirted with every girl in the school (that includes Danny's older sister just recently...)—though this isn't true, as he is rejected pretty much all the time. It probably has something to do with the fact he's a techno-geek: he always has at least one bit of technology with him at all times. Usually, it's his trusted PDA. Both Danny and Sam knew that Tucker was incredibly smart, since he got much better grades then both of them. Tucker is wearing a yellow sports shirt with the number three on it, green shorts, and brown shoes. A pair of black-rimmed glasses are over his eyes and a red beret is placed on his head.

As for Sam, she had been friends with Tucker since grade one. Even though they are polar opposites, they get along rather well...when Tucker isn't being annoying, that is. Though she denies it, Sam has a short temper and does not hesitate to hurt Tucker for his antics. Though she does have a soft spot for Danny—uh...don't tell her I told you that. Nobody's supposed to know that. Anyway, Sam is very open-minded girl; she's a goth, vegetarian, 'save the animals'-type girl. She's usually very dark, depressive, and sarcastic, but sometimes she shows a lighter side to herself (though only Danny and Tucker actually see it, and it's very rare). Sam has purple eyes and raven black hair with some red strands in it. Sam is wearing a black top that shows some of her midriff, a black skirt that has purple rims on the bottom, and black combat boots (which—according to Tucker—really, _really_ hurt to be kicked by).

Tucker was being his usual annoying self. He held up his PDA and complained, "I've had this PDA since sixth grade! My mom won't buy me a new one! It's not fair...not fair at all."

Danny rolled his eyes, "Tuck, what happened to the one that you built yourself? You know, the one you claimed could shot a laser or something?"

"It could!...It just...didn't go very far..."

"Well, what happened to it?"

"I dunno...I think Sam broke it one day..."

Sam glared at Tucker, "For good reason."

Danny asked the goth girl, "What did he do?"

"...I don't remember, but I do know he deserved it." Sam muttered darkly.

Despite the fact Sam mean every word and sounded a bit evil as she spoke, Danny laughed. Both of the boys were used to Sam's dark and sarcastic attitude. They could tell she wasn't joking, but they knew just to laugh it off anyway. Well, Danny laughed it off. Tucker always got hurt courtesy of Sam's left fist if he mocked her 'evilness', while Danny simply got a glare...speaking of which, Sam glared at him.

Danny smiled innocently, "I was laughing at the mental image of you hurting Tucker..."

"Sure you were." Sam retorted in half-annoyance, half-amusement. Her soft spot for Danny was considered a weakness; she couldn't stay angry at him for long.

The goth girl (more then-)often pondered this 'soft spot', but could never understand why she liked him enough to forgive him so easily. A good example would be the year before, when Danny had gotten popular by dating the most popular girl in the school, Paulina Sanchez. The blonde boy had been a real jerk the whole year, until Danny and Paulina broke up. Surprisingly, it was _Danny_ who broke up with _Paulina_, instead of vice-versa.

Despite this, Sam had been pissed at Danny the whole year, but quickly forgave him after his break-up with Paulina. (Tucker had suggested staying angry at him...but a kick to the face from Sam's combat boot changed his mind.)

So far the following year to now, Danny had done everything to say sorry for the previous year. He carried Sam's and Tucker's books, did their homework, and many other things that Sam got slightly annoyed by and Tucker simply ignored (though the techno-geek was really happy when he was given a new PDA after Danny accidentally destroyed one of his other ones...).

Tucker, oblivious to this conversation, continued to rant, "And I can't find the parts I need to build another one! I guess I could take apart this one"—he held up the PDA—"and build another from scratch it the pieces, but that'll take too long!"

"Tucker..."

"Yeah, Sam?"

"_We...don't...care_."

Tucker blinks and sighs, "Yup, that's what I thought you'd say." He began fiddling with his PDA. Danny and Sam shared a knowing look before they continued to walk through the hallway. However, they didn't get far before the whole hallway darkened and one of the lights above the trio exploded. They instinctively used their arms as shields. Surprisingly, they didn't get any glass stuck in their skin or anything. Though there was some glass stuck in their hair, they quickly and carefully brushed it out with their hands.

"Well, we know where this is going," Tucker muttered. Before anyone could respond, there was a menacing laugh that echoed through the halls. Everyone in the hallway glanced around in panic as the laughing increased in volume.

A voice, an elderly female's, echoed, "_Who dares change the lunch menu!?_" Sam glanced around with shifty-eyes, though no-one noticed. Another light exploded and a few lockers burst open as the ghost materialized in middle of the hallway, hovering in the air. She looked like a lunch lady that worked at Casper High, except with dark green skin and red eyes. She scowled, "_The menu has been the same for years...who dared to change it!?_"

You may be thinking, _'Why isn't everyone shocked that a ghost is hovering in middle of the hall?' _Well, this wasn't the first ghost attack. Ever since Danny's parents had finished building some sort of 'ghost portal' and activated it, ghosts started coming out of the portal. Luckily, the Fentons were able to handle them...mostly.

Still, the students panicked and quickly ran away. The only people who stayed were Danny, Sam, and Tucker.

Tucker looked at Sam suspiciously, "Changed the menu? Wow, I wonder who did _that_."

Sam smiled innocently, "Yeah...I wonder..." She was always doing something to make Casper High unique from other schools, despite the fact (that Tucker pointed out) that she would be less unique as everything else became unique. Sam just ignored him, even though she knew, deep down, he had a point...

The Lunch Lady hovered over to them angrily, "_Tell me who changed the menu!!_"

Tucker pointed his thumb at Sam boredly, "It was all her." Sam glared at him.

"_You__change the menu!?_" The Lunch Lady roared angrily. Her anger caused a slight breeze in the hallway. The trio shivered slightly as they backed away in fear. Lunch Lady continued, "_The menu has been the same for __fifty years_" She paused and suddenly asked, calmly, "Cake?" She held up a slice of cake, out of no-where. Danny, Sam, and Tucker, in shock, nodded slowly. The Lunch Lady roared, "_Too bad! Children who change __my__ menu do not __get__ desert!!_" The ghostly-cafeteria worker glowed green and meat began flying over the trio and towards her.

Tucker drooled slightly, "_Meat_...wait a minute, if the menu is changed and—knowing Sam—it's vegetarian now, where the heck is all this meat coming from!?"

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Mr. Leonard Lancer, the vice-principle and one of the teachers of Casper High, was standing in front of the whole staff. He proudly stood in front of a table covered by a cloth. Mr. Lancer spoke, "Esteemed Casper High faculty, I present to your our all-meat...buffet." The overweight teacher removed the cloth...to reveal that all the meat was gone. The rest of the staff gasped in shock. Mr. Lancer took a few moments to realize that something was wrong. He looked over his shoulder and gasped, spinning around, "**Paradise **_**Lost**_"

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"Shouldn't we be running?" Danny asked. Sam and Tucker both shrugged in response and the trio turned to run.

Lunch Lady roared, "_You will not escape, green-eater!!_"

"I thought I lost that nick-name in third grade..." Sam muttered. She suddenly shouted in surprise as a knife barely skimmed her arm, creating a cut in her shirt and a drip of blood to fall. Sam hissed as she covered the wound. "Ow! Hey!" She spun around in anger but stopped short when she saw the Lunch Lady covered in meat as a 'meat monster', with left-over meat and multiple pairs of cutlery hovering around it. Sam gulped slightly.

Danny and Tucker grabbed Sam's shoulders and began dragging her away. Just in time for one of the ghost-'possessed' knifes to hit the spot Sam had been standing in. Danny said, "We have to get out here...now!"

"No, duh." Tucker rolled his eyes.

Danny responded with, "If you hadn't told that ghost it was Sam who changed the menu, this wouldn't be happening." Tucker shrugged.

Sam shook her head and glared at Tucker, "Danny has a point." She clenched a fist up to Tucker's face, "Next time you do something that somehow threatens my life, then I'm kicking your a—!"

"_Come back here, vegetarian fool!_"

"—We'll talk about this later." Sam shoved Tucker quickly instead of punching him. The trio turned a corner...to find a dead end.

Danny blinked, "A dead end? That's so...so..."

"Dramatically cliché?" Sam guessed.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"_Time to __meat__ your doom!_" The Lunch Lady materialized in front of them.

Danny rolled his eyes, "That was worse then one of _my_ jokes..."

The Lunch Lady glared, "_Silence!_" Three barrages of eating utensils hovered into the air around her, "_Prepare to be...sliced and diced!_" She laughed evilly as the three barrages of utensils glowed. One went towards Danny, one towards Tucker, and one towards Sam.

Danny shouted in surprise and dodged the knifes and forks directed towards him by jumping to his left. Tucker dodged the ones aimed towards him by ducking. However, Sam couldn't dodge _all_ of the knifes directed towards her...

Danny suddenly shoved Sam out of the way, leaving himself standing there. With a large pile of utensils being sent straight towards him.

"_Danny_!"

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Wow...that was anti-climatic...heh...


	2. Danger, Death, & Revival 2

grins cheesily

This chapter may have some angst in it...mostly Sam!angst, of course. This is probably one of the very few chapters that don't feature Danny at all. Also, remember that the year is 2004...just to fit in with birth-dates and continuity. Yeah, pretty much.

There's also a character in this chapter that I gender-bended...

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**Chapter 2**

"...They see life as a parade..."—Clockwork, TUE

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'_He's dead.' _Was the first thought everyone had the instant they saw the coffin during the funeral a few days later. _'He's really gone...'_

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Tucker was the first to speak. He looked at the lifeless body of his best friend silently for a few moments. Everyone waited patiently for him to speak, which was expected, of course.

Finally, the techno-geek spoke, "Danny...Danny was the least...the least selfish person I knew, ever. Sure he let popularity get to his head last year, but...this year he spent at least ninety percent of his time either doing nice things for me and Sam to say he was sorry...or at least plotting something nice. Other then that, he was just an average fifteen year old guy. The greatest thing—in my opinion—he ever did in his life...was save Sam's life. Turns out there was something to separate those two..." Tucker joked, but his voice was quiet and slightly hollow. His head bowed before he stepped off the stage.

Sam didn't even give him a slight warning look for the techno-geeks last sentence. She just stared at Danny's corpse with a strange look on her face, somewhere between horror, sadness, and anger. Her hair wasn't in a pony-tail for once and was let down (even Tucker didn't know it was that long). Her eyes were clouded, and everyone could see she had been crying recently, though she kept her usual strong structure…barely.

More people stood up to speak. Danny's father had been really sad, saying he never got to go out ghost hunting with his son. Next was Danny's mother, who was crying as she spoke, yet her voice sounded rather strong as she spoke how proud she was of her son for being the best son she could ever hope for. When she started to talk about how she felt a close bond with Danny, she almost instantly broke down and began sobbing into her husband's shoulder.

Danny's sister was next to speak. She had the same look on her face as Sam, though she looked more sad then horrified or angry. She looked like she had been crying as well. Jasmine 'Jazz' Fenton spoke—without a single stutter, surprisingly—about her brother and how she would miss having someone to be overprotective over. Jazz started to stutter a bit as she spoke of how she and Danny had drifted apart in the past few years, and how she regretted that. Jazz stopped the speech, even though she looked like she had more to say. Jazz calmly walked off the stage and went to comfort her still-sobbing mother.

It was Sam's turn. Tucker looked at her to see she hadn't moved an inch from when he last looked at her. The same look was on her face, but there were a few fresh tears in her eyes now.

Sam suddenly turned and went in front of the grave, where she was to deliver her speech/last response. She sighed and spoke, "I—similar to Tucker—have only been Danny's friend since sixth grade or so. No offence to Tucker, but in that short time, I got closer to him then I did to Tucker, even if I had known Tucker since before then. Danny...there was something special about him. He was one of those people that, at first glance, you think is just any average teenager. But Danny never acted like most guys...he was a great friend...never judged people...even when he was popular all last year, I could tell he would eventually be stuck with us again. I don't know if that's what he _really_ wanted, but that's what it seemed like." Sam paused to think about how to continue.

"Despite what _many_ of you think, we weren't...me and Danny were not...well...together. I bet he never even thought of it. Sure, he was my friend, and he respected me and was my friend and all, but...I don't know...don't get me wrong, I...maybe...wanted...I—I...I can't talk about this." Sam quickly turned away, "Or see him...like that..." And she walked off, out of the cemetery, and down the street. Just like that.

Everyone was silent. The dark mood had somehow darkened even more after Sam's speech.

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Nether Sam or Tucker went to school the next day. Tucker had stayed home, not wanting to hang out with Sam at the moment. Sam didn't blame him, so she decided to go to take her Tucker-free time and go to the library or something. She almost called Danny to ask if he wanted to come, but by the time she had dialed the first few numbers to call FentonWorks, she stopped and slammed the phone down quickly.

Sam had been in such a depression, Tucker kept calling her the night before to make sure she hadn't tried to kill herself or something. After the fiftieth call, Sam yelled at him. She was _not_ that kind of person, despite her goth clothes and slightly dark personality. Sam wasn't going to resort to that. _Danny_ wouldn't want her to do that.

She _had _to get out of the house.

Sam threw on her black and purple coat over her black sleeved shirt with a purple dot on it and long skirt with purple stripes. She wore her combat boots, as usual. Sam still had her hair down, not bothering with a pony-tail.

The goth girl left a note for her parents when they got back, to let them know she went out. Even though she didn't like her parents that much, that didn't mean she didn't want them to worry about her and—really, really, _really_, _really_, _**really**_ deep down, she loved them. She just would never, ever admit it...to anyone...ever. Not even Danny if he were still—Sam shook her head rapidly, not wanting to think about him...

Sam walked down the street quietly. The goth girl's clenched fists were in her coat's pockets. Sam's eyes were clouded and her face was even more emotionless then it usually was. She walked quickly, not wanting to waist any time getting to the library. The book she needed was already in her mind. _'Do I really want to do this?...Of course I do. I _have_ to, or...Danny...' _She sighed sadly.

The goth girl entered the library. The librarian looked up briefly and nodded at her before turning her attention back to the computer.

Sam barely acknowledged the librarian as she quickly walked to the one row of shelves she went to every single time she visited. Sam scanned the shelved quickly, but carefully. Sam sighed in relief. The book she was looking for was there. She removed it from the shelf carefully, holding it with both hands; one hand on the spine and one on the page-side of the book.

Sam shuddered slightly. She had taken this book out before, and it always made her so...uneasy when she held it. No-one else shivered or _anything_ when they touched it...but her...the book reacted to her. She wasn't sure why, but if her hunch was correct...

'_...Danny...'_

Sam's grip tightened on the book nervously as she went to the counter to check it out. As the goth girl placed it on the table, we see what the title is.

**Shade Magic; Ethereal Edition**

The librarian gave her a slightly suspicious look, but checked it out anyway; Sam quickly accepted it from her grip and quickly left the library. She hardly remembered walking home, as she soon found herself in the attic of her house in moments.

Sam placed the book down on the dusty floor. She bit her lip nervously. _'Why am I so nervous? I've opened it before. I've read it before. Sure, I just did so to entertain myself last time...but...this time...'_ Sam sighed and, shoving her new fear of the book to the back of her subconscious, quickly opened the book to the contents. Scanning the table of contents, she finally found the section she was needing.

**4.0 – Revival**

**4.1 ––Preamble- 662**

**4.2 ––Pros and Cons- 663**

**4.3 ––Threats- 665**

**4.4 ––Directions- 666**

'_...I must be really desperate to try this...but...I need to do this. _Need_ to.' _Sam told herself firmly. _'I...need him...'_ A few tears she didn't even know she was holding trickled down her cheeks. Sam took a deep breath...and quickly turned to **666** in the book.

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Clockwork as the Master of Time Itself, but that doesn't mean much to him. Sure, he was highly respected in the Ghost Zone thanks to his knowledge, bu really, knowing everything wasn't that great. He also had a hard time seeing into his own future, which annoyed him a bit, not knowing what to expect...but at least he knew what to expect of _others_...

"Clockwork." A voice spoke up, interrupting Clockwork's inner musing, but not startling the Master of Time, who had _literally_ seen it coming.

"What is it?" Clockwork asked patiently.

Another voice explained, "We have a very important job for you."

Clockwork raised an eyebrow. He actually hadn't seen that coming. Before he could ask, the first voice, the owner being one of the many Observants of the High Council, stopped him, "Let us explain to you first, then you may comment."

Clockwork was going to respond with a witty retort, but then instead realized what they wanted him to do; his slight omnipotence sometimes happened against his will. He spoke up, "You want me to watch over this...Daniel Fenton, am I correct?"

The second voice's owner, a hunter-ghost by the name of Skulker, nodded, "Yes. You must watch over him."

"Why?" Clockwork questioned, something that was quite rare, "The boy seems like an average boy to me...isn't he a ghost by now?"

"He hasn't formed a real body yet," the Observant answered, "by the time he does, that girl—"

"Samantha 'Sam' Manson, born December 7th, 1990 at 3:00 AM." Clockwork said.

Skulker blinked, "...Yes, her. By the time Daniel has formed a spectral body, _Sam_ will have found out how to resurrect him!"

Clockwork raised an eyebrow, "Can she do that?"

"Yes," the Observant answered, "she could. If she does..." It trailed off.

"Daniel will become your responsibility, Master of Time." Skulker said, seriously. The hunter-ghost put a hand on Clockwork's shoulder, "Can you handle that?"

Clockwork hesitated before replying.

"I think so."

Skulker smiled and nodded her head, removing her hand and saying, "Good. I wish you luck, Clockwork." She teleported away with a burst of green flames.

The Observant sighed, "Does she always have to make her exits dramatic!?"

"Um, yes, yes she does." Clockwork chuckled. He then frowned, "Sorry to be rude, but shouldn't you go _observe_ the door?" The Observant would scowl if it had a real face. It hovered away without responding, however. Clockwork turned to one of the many Time Screens and, just by thinking, made the image of Amity Park change to Sam in the present, reading the book. The Master of Time sighed, "Hm...so she is the one responsible for everything that is going to happen...perhaps I should give her a _subtle warning_..." He smiled softly to himself.

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The goth girl put the book (**Shadow Magic: Ethereal Edition**) on the side-table, she laid down on her bed. Sam closed her eyes, falling asleep rather quickly as she was incredibly tired all of a sudden...

"_Who am I kidding?"_

"_Don't you want him back?"_

"_Calm down!"_

"_...back, free of charge!"_

"_...um...carried away..."_

"_So...I died..."_

"_...at least this can't get any worse."_

"_I'm..."_

"_...being in this weird green place..."_

"_...going to beat him up..."_

"_...Dash didn't put the pieces together."_

"_...do something?"_

"_...goin'..."_

"_You're being a bad influence on Danny."_

"_...little kid."_

"_But, Danny..."_

"_Are you two _flirting_?"_

"_...learn to fight like that!?"_

"_...the one who killed me..."_

"_...why'd you change back?"_

"_...ghost!"_

"_...you died saving _me_, Danny."_

"_...worthless..."_

"I_ think you're important..."_

"_...stop hugging me."_

"I'm goin' ghost_!"_

Sam gasped, sitting up and almost falling off the bed in surprise. She stared wide-eyed at the clock on the side-table. It was the morning the next day...she was awake? What happened? What was that dream all about...?

Sam sighed and closed her eyes, falling asleep after a few moments. Now wasn't the time to think about stuff like that, anyway...right?

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_**(THERE IS SOME IMPORTANT INFO BELOW. YOU DON'T **__**ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO**__** READ, BUT...)**_

Hm, this is my second chapter I've ever written with major!foreshadowing. I like this attempt better then my first, though that's just me. My other attempt was chapter 8 of my story _**Amazing Danny Phantom**_.

Don't worry, Danny will appear, eventually...

Observants are all 'its', as they all don't have real genders, unlike mostly all the humanoid ghosts. Then again, the Observants aren't really humanoid, but, um...never mind.

Yes, Sam's birthday is December 7th, 1990 (or, if you consider the 'present' in the DP-verse the same as today's, then it's 1994 if Sam is fourteen). The characters will age in this story, but the maximum age for our trio is going to be sixteen, as usual.

Sam's 'dream' was, in fact, given to her by Clockwork. Remember those phrases, people! You don't _need_ to, but all of them will appear in future chapters! Of course, some of the phrases are 'incomplete' so only some of the sentence is seen for most of them, so...yeah...just remember some of the ones you think are important, 'k? 'K! Good...

...And I tried having the fact that Skulker is female as a huge shocker that you see often in most AU stories. Yes, he—or, in this case, she—is the victim—I mean, the one who was GB-ed. Didn't you read the author note at the beginning that mentioned that? Femme-Skulker doesn't look much different other then the more-feminine battle suit. Like in _**ADP**_, she is _not_ just a green blob in a suit, the suit is her _actual _'_body_'...of sorts.

..._Clockwork/Femme-Skulker __**win**_... **(is shot rapidly) **GAH! It was just a joke! Jeez! **(is driven to hospital by Clockwork)**

Danny: **(sighs) **Um...please review, readers! DPP333 is feeding me with them, so I'd prefer reviews that taste like Nasty Burger!...And yes, that...um...interesting pairing he just mentioned will appear in the future. **(shudders) **

**(THIS IS THE END OF ALL IMPORTANCE OF THIS AUTHORS NOTE!)**

Canon-Skulker: Oh, Lord, please spare me...or kill me...

Danny: ...You're a ghost.

Canon-Skulker: _After_-kill me.

Danny: Ah.

Both: ...

Danny: Shouldn't we be killing each other?

Canon-Skulker: Don't you mean after-kill, whelp?

**(the two fight)**

In the hospital...

Wait, I forgot about Danny and Skulker! Oh, crud...I hope my house is intact...who's idea was it to let them stay at my house!?


	3. Danger, Death, & Revival 3

You should note that the quote things at the beginning of chapters won't appear in all chapters if I can't find one to suit the chapter.

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**Chapter 3**

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"Who am I kidding?"

Sam pondered this as she let the book linger on page **227**. She was starting to have second thoughts about this. According to the book, Danny would have to be a ghost for it to work. What unfinished business did he have? Nothing that Sam knew of, at least. Still...if there's a chance he could come back...

She sighed tiredly and glanced at the time. The 'revival' would have to be done at precisely the sixth minute of the sixth hour after lunch (6:06). _'It's already 5:59? Wow, the day has really passed by...' _She bit her lip and looked down at the book again. Was she really this desperate to have him alive again? Would he do the same for her? No...yes...maybe...devinantly; yes, Danny would 'revive' her if she died. Tucker would never do such a thing...unless Danny forced him to, of course.

Sam rubbed her temples with her fingers as both a futile attempt to rid herself of her headache and to help herself think. What if something else happened? What if somebody else had to die or…or what if _she_ had to die? The goth girl quickly turned to page **224** to check the list of pros and cons.

**Pros: Your friend/family member is alive again.**

**Cons: Many possible 'side-effects'. Note that all 'side-effects' will only affect the 'revived' person. These 'side-effects' may include (but are not limited to): amnesia, altered appearance, and the possible manifestation of ghostly abilities.**

Sam rolled her eyes at the last one. 'Ghostly abilities'? Like a human could have ghost powers! She turned to the next page (**225**) and began to read. It was basically a page that explained a bit more about the cons of bringing somebody back to life. This information continued on page **226**. **227** were the instructions for the actual 'resurrection process'. She bit her lip.

Truthfully, the goth girl had already read all about the process, but she was still a bit reluctant to try it. What if something went wrong? What if Danny changed or something thanks to coming back to life? What if everyone remembered Danny had been dead? How in the world was she going to explain his sudden revival!? His parents would probably think he was a ghost, which would be even worse! They'd want to dissect him and…Sam shuddered, not wanting to think about whatever the would want to do to her friend…

Sam sighed and ran a hand through her messy hair. (She hadn't bothered to brush it this morning, not that you should blame her, as she was incredibly stressed at the moment.) The goth read the instructions over again. Honestly, it seemed rather easy.

She had to be near ghostly energy of some kind, which wasn't very hard to do in the most haunted place in Amity Park—there were so many ghosts all the time, that there was always some form of ghostly energy in the air. Next, she had to have some sort of DNA of Danny. Sam glanced with shifty-eyes around the room before pulling a case out from under her bed. She opened it and pulled out a bag that was labeled **Danny's hair**. The goth dumped the clump of hair onto the floor carefully before throwing the case under the bed again carelessly…well, ok, she actually placed it under the bed with the utmost care…

...If you're wondering how she got some of Danny's hair...you don't want to know. Trust me.

Sam sighed and glanced at the instructions again. The next step was to make sure that she was in a dark room and that nobody would be able to see whatever happened in it. She was in the attic, so obviously this step was already complete. Her room was, in fact, in the attic. Her parents hadn't approved, but she eventually got permission to have it as her 'bedroom'. There was a bed, and…well, that was about it, other then some candles, and a few pictures here and there of herself, Danny, and Tucker.

Mumbling to herself, the goth girl pulled out the next 'ingredient', some green ectoplasm which she had '_borrowed_' from the Fenton's lab. The book said it didn't really matter what kind of ectoplasm it was—so it didn't matter if it was green, blue, violet, red, or white—though green was the recommended one, for reasons the book didn't really explain.

Still, Sam wasn't picky, especially since this would bring her love—I mean, friend back to life!

Casually dumping the ectoplasm on the clump of Danny's hair, the goth girl glanced at her watch. Everything was ready, it was 6:05, and—Sam's eyes widened, _'6:06!' _She quickly backed away from the mixture. When nothing happened after a few seconds, all the hope a goth had ever had before was gone, and Sam's eyes filled with tears. She was about to leave the attic when the light dimmed thanks to the candles being burnt out. The room got suddenly colder and…

"Don't you want him back?"

Sam spun around to see…a vampire. Now, any _normal_ girl would shriek there heads off, but this isn't any ordinary—"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"—ok, so maybe she was a _little_ afraid.

The vampire scowled, "Calm down!" He had light blue skin, crimson eyes, black hair, was wearing a white and black suit with a white and red cape, and had a red _ghostly_ glow.

Sam realized, "You're…a ghost?"

"Yes, but when I was a live, I was a _real_ vampire!" He laughed evilly. Seeing Sam's pale skin somehow getting even _paler_, the vampire ghost quickly amended, "No, no, don't worry. I once fed on human blood, but now I only feed on ectoplasm." He shrugged. "So…you want the one named Daniel Fenton back, do you?" He smirked.

"H…how did you know that?" Sam asked, nervously.

"…….It says so on the box with his hair in it," the vampire ghost pointed out. The **Danny's hair** box was sticking out from underneath Sam's bed, the marking on it saying what it was filled with out in plain sight. Sam went red and quickly kicked it under the bed. The vampire chuckled, "I don't want to know how you got that, do I? Anyway, I am…Plasmius, the vampire ghost. I'm here to…ahem…make a deal with you. Daniel's life for, oh, I don't know…_**your soul**_!?" He pointed at Sam dramatically, finishing his sentence with a demonic voice.

It seemed Sam had gotten over her fear, and snarled angrily, "Uh-uh, I don't think so! You're bringing him back, free of charge!"

Plasmius glared back, still speaking in a demonic voice, "_**You will have to pay me somehow, child! For I am—wait, just a second.**_" He coughed a bit and punched his chest. After a few moments, he spoke again in a normal, slightly echoing voice thanks to his ghost powers voice, "Sorry about that. I get a little…um…carried away with the voice, sometimes."

"…Right. Anyway, I shouldn't have to give my soul just to bring him back! Without a soul, I wouldn't even want him back anymore!" Sam pointed out.

"Hm," Plasmius frowned in thought, revealing he had fangs with he sneered, "you are smart…fine, then. What about…those side effects in the book. If you let me apply one of them—I get to chose!—to either the boy or you—that choice is yours—then I'll bring Daniel back to life. Fair?"

Sam glared suspiciously, "I guess…but that side effect is so not going on me!" Yeah, she loved Danny, but not enough to get amnesia, be altered in appearance, or get _ghost powers_ for him!...Well, ok, maybe if it wasn't her choice and she _had_ to get one of them, then yeah, she would…

Plasmius smirked, "So be it. Please, say hello to him, if you would be so kind. All you must do is read this line, and he shall appear."

The vampire-like ghost then pulled out a piece of paper and threw it casually down to Sam. Sam caught it and read what it said.

**Mi konsent ĉiuj terminoj de ĉi tiu interkonsento Vlad Plasmius havas fiksitan. ĉiuj efikoj ke estas kiun kaŭzis ĉi tiu interkonsento ne povas est retroirig; ilin estas konstanta. neniu, nek Mi nek Plasmius, povus kapabli retiriĝ de ĉi tiu interkonsento post parol ĉi tiu propozicio.**

"What does it mean?" Sam glared suspiciously.

"Oh, it's just to seal our agreement." Plasmius casually crossed his arms, "If you don't 'seal' the agreement, then I won't bring him back…"

"…Fine." The goth girl mumbled darkly. She then read aloud, "Mi konsent ĉiuj terminoj de ĉi tiu interkonsento Vlad Plasmius havas fiksitan. ĉiuj efikoj ke estas kiun kaŭzis ĉi tiu interkonsento ne povas est retroirig; ilin estas konstanta. neniu, nek Mi nek Plasmius, povus kapabli retiriĝ de ĉi tiu interkonsento post parol ĉi tiu propozicio." She paused and thought, _'Wow, I'm actually very fluent in this language…it sounds a bit like Tucker's 'Esperanto', but...'_

Plasmius smiled darkly, "Once again, say 'hi' to the boy for me. Ciao!" He the vanished.

The room brightened slightly, the candles miraculously lighting again. Sam sighed in relief as the room also warmed up a bit. Which was a good thing, as she was almost freezing to death! Looking at the paper with the 'agreement' she wondered, "When does Danny live again, anyw—?"

There was an explosion of green energy…and a familiar figure walked out.

————————————————

"Wow," admitted Skulker softly, watching these events transpire.

Clockwork sighed, "Why are you here, again?"

Skulker smiled innocently, "What, can't I visit the Master of Time Itself without a real reason?"

"...No, you can't." Clockwork gave her a suspicious look. Though he knew everything, he didn't know personal thoughts about anyone except himself. He only knew what was spoken aloud and what was extremely obvious. Like the goth girl's attraction to Daniel...

"Fine." Skulker chuckled, "I'll just be going. Tell me if somethin' interesting happens." She waved and flew off.

"Hmph." Was Clockwork's only response, frowning in thought. He hoped Daniel could handle all the troubles the future will give him...he was, after all, only a fourteen year old teenager...

————————————————————————————————

This was much shorter when I first started writing this. I was originally going for short, but decided to add a little Clockwork/femme-Skulker scene...yes, I meant what I said in the last chapters author note! Oh, and Wulf made an appearance, too...

...I'm also not sure about the Esperanto; the translator I used isn't the greatest! In fact, it wasn't that good at all, but it was the best I could find. Anyway, Esperanto's a common language among ghosts of a certain section in the Ghost Zone. Clockwork's lair is in that area, and the Observant's High Council place, too.


	4. More Danger, Limbo, & Responsibility 1

_**Disclaimer: I tried, but I still can't buy Danny Phantom...so me don't own-y. This is the last time I will remind you of this for this story, by the way…**_

The reason I started and updated this story so many times in one day is because I had the first two story arcs pre-written...so, yeah.

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_**Arc 2: More Danger, Limbo, and Responsibility**_

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**Chapter 4**

"With great power comes great responsibility."—The famous 'Uncle Ben' quote, various versions of the Spiderman series; I don't own this quote!

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"So...I died...and now I'm alive, and only you and me remember this because you brought me back?" Danny asked Sam after school. The whole day had been weird for them; they were the only ones that seemed to remember Danny had been dead before then. They had gone to Sam's house so Danny could question Sam about what exactly happened.

Sam smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, pretty much..."

"Weird." Admitted Danny with a slightly crept-out look. He then looked curiously at Sam, "Was life really that bad with me gone?"

"Well, let's see...Tucker wasn't the same anymore, Lancer is the only teacher to actually be a little sympathetic, and, oh, there's also the fact ghosts are attacking even more since you died, for some reason. Other then that, everything was just _peachy_!" Sam's eye twitched.

Danny rolled his eyes, but still smiled, "How'd you bring me back to life, anyway?"

"Well, I made this deal with this weird ghost-dude. I was able to make it so nothing bad happened to me from you coming to life!" Sam crossed her arms proudly.

"Let me guess, you forgot to manipulate him into making sure there were no side-effects caused on me?" Danny asked, dryly.

Sam's proud look faltered for a moment...and then vanished, being replaced by a guilty one, "Um...yeah...heh...you see...funny story...um...you see...uh...the book that I got the instructions to bring you back from death...kinda had a...list of side-effects...and before that vampire/ghost guy left, he said that…one of the 'side-effects' _had_ to happen or you wouldn't come back…you don't have amnesia, but..."

"Well...where's the book?" Danny asked.

Sam sighed and reached under her bed, pulling out **Shade Magic; **_**Ethereal Edition**_. She turned to page **224** to the 'pros and cons' list. She read aloud, "'Cons: Many possible side-effects. Note that all side-effects will only affect the revived person. These side-effects may include (but are not limited to): amnesia, altered appearance, and the possible manifestation of ghostly abilities." She paused and looked up at Danny, "The ghost I made the deal with to bring you back...he said that you would have to experience at least one of those. It's been a day, so you should be experiencing it around..."

Danny's whole body suddenly went under a change. His body burst with green energy that didn't do anything except become a green glow around him. This did nothing for a moment until his body was forced to go under _another_ change; his body lost it's color so only his eyes were still colored. He blinked and looked down at himself dumbly. Both teens, including the one that was intangible, watched in awe as Danny began sinking through the floor. It was only when he was half-way through the floor before he yelped, "Sam, _help_!"

"O-ok!" Sam reached down and grabbed his only tangible part: his right hand. With amazing strength that Danny wasn't _that_ surprised about, the goth girl pulled Danny out of the ground and managed to hold him up in the air (with _one hand_) until his body retained both it's color and tangible form. Sam put Danny down, looking exhausted despite her strength after holding him up for a good ten seconds. She glared, "You really need to lose some weight."

Danny ignored her and observed himself nervously before throwing Sam an extremely-panicked look, "W-what just happened!?"

"Um...that was the...'possible manifestation of ghostly abilities'?" Sam guessed, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck (a trait she received from Danny doing the same thing every time _he_ was nervous).

"Well, that's just great." Danny muttered as he watched his hand lose it's tangibility for a moment before returning to a solid state. He shook his head and asked, "What do we do now?"

"Well...seeing as how you can't seem to fully control these...ghost powers, you'll have to be extra careful...especially with your parents." Sam winced slightly at the thought.

"Oh, no, my parents!" Danny's eyes widened, "I-If they find out about this...I'm dead! Or...well...more dead!...Or would it be dead again because you 'revived' me?...Oh, never mind that—my parents are going to rip me apart molecule by molecule! They hate ghosts!" Before he could panic some more, Sam punched Danny in the shoulder as hard as she could, causing the now half-ghost teen to yelp and go intangible as he stumbled away from the goth girl. He was still able to walk while intangible, which meant he was able to control it somewhat so he didn't always sink through objects. Returned to a solid state, he glared at Sam, "What was that for?"

Sam sighed and gave him a apologetic look, before glaring again, "Stop freaking out, ok? Besides, your parents are more scientists then hunters. All you have to do is lay low. Which, according to what just happened...might be harder then I originally expected. Pain seems to be something that makes you use your new powers to react." She paused and, after seeing Danny's confused look, sighed and said, boredly, "Basically? You plus pain equals intangibility."

"Oh...that sucks." Danny commented.

"No, duh?" Sam rolled her eyes and suddenly looked thoughtful, "I wonder if you can fly..."

Danny stared at her, "Fly? Sam, in case you haven't noticed, I'm still human! Well...half-human, at least...but that's beside the point. My parents say that only a ghost could fly, and when I asked about humans with ghost powers—don't ask where I got that idea from—they said it was impossible...and that, even if there was a half-ghost, he or she wouldn't be able to fly unless they were able to make themselves a...'_ghost form_' of some kind."

Pause.

"So...you gonna make a 'ghost form', then?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.

Danny slapped his forehead and glared at the goth girl, "Don't you get it, Sam? I don't want these powers! I..." His anger vanished and was replaced by sadness, "I was...already a freak before..." He looked down sadly.

Sam bit her lip as she watched her best friend self-pity himself. She sighed and said, "I'm sorry, ok? And I...I don't...think you're a freak. With...or without ghost powers. Um, I know that's coming from the goth girl, but...yeah." She smiled, a light blush forming on her cheeks. _'Maybe Tucker's right...maybe I do...have a crush on him...? Ugh, of course you do, Sam! You're borderline obsessive, especially with those hairs I have under my bed…'_

"...Thanks, Sam..." Danny smiled sadly and sat on her bed with a sigh. "Well, at least this can't get any worse." Somehow this was a cue for his whole body to lose it's tangibility so he phased through the bed. There was a pause and Danny's voice was heard, the sound somehow able to go through things as well as his body when he was intangible, "Um...I'm ok! Wow, the room under your bed is...roomy..."

————————————————

It had been a week, and Danny still hadn't gotten full control over his powers. The half-ghost teen and goth girl had kept his powers a secret from everyone—including Tucker—as well as they could. Nobody to their knowledge had discovered Danny's new status as a half-ghost. They both _wanted_ to tell Tucker...but how are you supposed to tell one of your best friends that his best friend is now half-dead?

Danny sighed as he hid his intangible hand under the table. The trio were eating out at the Nasty Burger, the favorite hang-out of pretty much all Casper High students, including our heroes. It was a fast-food restaurant that was originally to be known as the **T**asty Burger, but some teenagers had decided to change it as a joke when the first one was built, causing all the ones that were built after to be called the same thing.

Danny looked thoughtfully at his menu as he hid his intangible arm. He spoke, "I always have wondered who changed the **T **to an **N**..."

Sam nervously smiled, "Yeah...I...wonder." She glanced around with shifty eyes. Neither Danny or Tucker seemed to notice this; Danny was still trying to solidify his arm and Tucker was fiddling with his PDA.

Danny was suddenly inspired by his intangible hand to finally tell Tucker of his powers. The fact he couldn't get his arm back to normal no matter how much he concentrated meant he needed help, anyway; Sam was really good at figuring out why Danny's powers were malfunctioning at certain times. The goth girl was also good and fixing whatever was causing Danny to phase out/go invisible/make his eyes glow green. She even had a list.

**Intangibility is caused by: pain, nervousness, frustration, surprise**

**Invisibility is caused by: fear, embarrassment**

**Glowing eyes is caused by: extreme emotions—mostly anger**

These were the only powers they had discovered so far. Danny wasn't able to create his own spectral form yet, but he was working on it...

Anyway, the half-ghost teen looked at Sam nervously, "Uh, Sam?" He held up his intangible arm nervously. Tucker gaped at it as Danny nervously phased it through the table to show it to Sam.

Sam gasped and quickly pointed, "Uh, Tucker! Is, um...is that Star?" Star was Paulina's best friend and Tucker's main crush. Only a few people knew that Star wasn't such a bad person—she was much better then Paulina—but only whenever Paulina wasn't around that people witnessed this.

"No time to ogle girls...besides, I know you're lying—but that's beside the point! What the heck is happening to Danny's arm?" Tucker stared at Danny shook his colorless arm rapidly as an attempt to return it to a solid form. Tucker asked, "Is Danny a ghost now or something?"

"Well...not exactly." Sam nervously responded. Both the goth girl and half-ghost teen rubbed the back of their necks nervously—Danny was using his intangible hand, until he realized his hand wasn't solid. Sam looked at Danny's camouflaged arm in concern and said, "Danny, calm down. I'd hit you, but that makes you go _fully_ intangible!" She glared at the half-ghost in annoyance.

Danny whimpered and leaned away from her before he phased out and sunk through the booth's seat. He concentrated so he could hover back up through the seat. Once he was fully out of the seat, he returned to a solid state. The half-ghost sighed in relief.

"How'd you do that?" Sam asked, surprised.

Danny replied, "I'm able to fly a bit when intangible, which is useful when I sink through things and such."

"Can you guys tell me how this happened, now?" Tucker asked, eagerly.

Sam started, "Well...it started a week ago..."

————————————————

The half-ghost and goth girl told the whole story about how Danny had died, about how Sam ended up getting desperate enough to use the darkest of sorcery to bring Danny back to life, and how Danny got his powers thanks to this. Tucker—for obvious reasons—believed them entirely. He also knew why Sam had been so desperate to resort to the supernatural to bring Danny back, but knew she'd kill him if the techno-geek 'accidentally' told Danny about her feelings for the half-ghost...

The trio were walking down the hallways at school the next day. Sam suddenly thought of something, "Hey, Danny...do you remember being a ghost?"

"Well, I remember being dead...and being in this weird green place...but it wasn't for very long." Danny frowned.

"Hey, maybe you were in your parent's 'Ghost Zone'? It probably has different time zones then us, so it felt like less time then it did here." Tucker thoughtfully remarked.

Danny shook his head, "All I know is that I don't ever want to be there again...it was really messed up." He shuddered slightly. Before he could continue, he was suddenly lifted into the air by the back of his shirt.

"Hey, Fenturd, did you finish that science homework for me?" Dash Baxter—the resident jock/bully of Casper High—sneered.

"Not now, Dash." Danny complained.

Dash glared, "Is that a 'no'?" Before Danny could respond, the jock shoved Danny into the nearest open locker and shut it. Dash stomped off angrily, knowing he would get in trouble for not having anything to hand in for science.

Sam sighed and walked over to the locker to open it, when Danny quickly phased out of it with a pissed look on his face. They were lucky the hallway was empty at the moment. Danny glared at Sam, but the goth girl knew the anger was not directed at her. She did flinch slightly when she saw his eyes were glowing an olive green color. Danny spoke, "I'll be right back." Still intangible, Danny was somehow able to fly down the hallway...and into Dash. Literally; he went _into_ Dash. The goth and techno-geek watched in awe as 'Dash' turned to them with glowing green eyes and a smirk. 'Dash' then walked off and began humiliating himself.

Sam sighed, "Well...this won't end well."

"...You're going to beat him up, huh?" Tucker asked, bemused.

"Oh, yeah." Sam smirked evilly.

————————————————————————————————

Bad ending, I know. No Clockwork, either, but he'll return eventually...


	5. More Danger, Limbo, & Responsibility 2

No, we don't get to see Sam beat up our favorite half-ghost. Sorry, but that would be way too violent...trust me.

————————————————————————————————

**Chapter 5**

"Just focus the energy, until it has no way to go except _out_."—Frostbite, Urban Jungle

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No, you don't get to know how badly Sam beat up Danny. Let's just say even his ghost powers weren't able to help him and that he learned his lesson about using his powers for revenge. Oh, and he also learned that Sam had a access to Fenton weaponry and that she had been practicing on using it, too...

Anyway, Danny, Sam, and Tucker were hanging out at the Nasty Burger, as usual. There wasn't really anywhere else to hang out, except maybe the mall, but Amity Mall was closed for the day due to a rather large ghost attack.

Sam smiled at Danny, "You know, I'm glad you finally decided to stop using your powers to prank people. That was a pretty mature decision for you to make."

"Yeah, well..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "I had my fun. I'm just glad that Dash didn't put the pieces together."

"How would he?" Tucker pointed out. He sighed, "Too bad you gave up on those pranks..."

Sam rolled her eyes, "Tucker, stop it. You're being a bad influence on Danny." Obviously she took the role as the most rational of the three to the point where she showed maternal instincts that hinted that she would most likely be a great mother one day, something which Danny had pointed out before, causing the goth girl to blush…ah, good times…Sam smiled a bit at the memory.

"You make me sound like a little kid." Danny muttered, slightly annoyed. Sam ignored him and ate some of her salad.

Danny sighed and was going to have a bite of his burger, when suddenly the half-ghost started shivering uncontrollably and he began seeing his breath. However, his breath had a strange blue tint to it. That, and he had a…feeling that something was…wrong…

Still breathing out blue mist whenever he opened his mouth, Danny stammered awkwardly, "W-w-what th-the heck i-i-is ha-ha-happening...?"

"It must be a ghost power." Sam realized, "What it's doing other then make you start shivering, I have no clue."

"We-well I h-h-hope it sto-stops s-soon..." Danny shivered.

Sam narrowed her eyes in curiosity, "Hm...this weird new power made you see your breath...but it's blue, not colorless...what does that mean?"

"That it's weird?" Tucker guessed. Sam rolled her eyes at him and frowned. "...What? I was just pointed it out..."

Suddenly, there was an explosion and some screams. The trio looked over in surprise while Danny noticed that this weird new power had stopped itself. They watched in slight surprise as two green, ghost octopuses flew in, making strange 'roaring' sounds. Danny, Sam, and Tucker ducked as one of the ghosts threw a chair at them. They hid under the table and watched as the ghost octopuses wreaked havoc on the Nasty Burger.

Danny suddenly asked, "Should I do something?"

"Like what?" Tucker asked, confused.

"Don't you remember? My parents are gone for a ghost convention for the week!" Danny smiled, "I can possibly learn to control my powers by then! Whoo!"

"How is this a good thing, other then training your powers! Without your parents around, ghosts can do _whatever the hell they want_!" Sam furiously waved her arms.

Danny blinked and smiled sheepishly, "Well, uh...good point..."

"Oh, and to answer your question...you probably should try to do _something_. You have the power, so why not?" Sam shrugged.

Danny sighed and looked thoughtful, "Well...I did finish that ghost form thing..." The half-ghost crawled out from under the table to stand up.

His fists clenched as he narrowed his eyes; Danny concentrated on his ghost energy and forced it so it had no where to go except out. Suddenly, green ectoplasm exploded around him like a tornado. When the green tornado faded away, he was transformed. The clothes he was wearing were switched with a black hazmat suit with white gloves, white boots, a white belt, and white collar. Danny's body formed a white ghostly glow around it, his sky blue eyes became a glowing lime green, and his messy blonde hair was now a snowy white…but still messy, of course!

Sam and Tucker watched in awe as Danny concentrated on hovering into the air. Surprised that he had actually managed to fly into the air, Danny watched as the ghost octopuses observed him in confusion.

Danny narrowed his eyes and asked, "What do you guys want?" The octopuses didn't reply, but simply stared at him. Danny raised an eyebrow and exited his battle pose, "Can you guys even talk?" The octopuses suddenly glared and started floating towards the wanna-be superhero. Danny hovered backwards away from them, but one of the ghost octopuses suddenly grabbed his left ankle and swung him into a table as hard as possible. Danny shouted in pain.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker gasped together. Unfortunately, this got the attention of the ghosts, who reached down and covered the goth girl's and techno geek's mouths before lifting them into the air with threatening glares. Tucker and Sam exchanging nervous looks, not that you should blame them...

Danny opened his eyes, saw his friends in danger, and cursed under his breath—he wasn't the kind of guy to swear loudly, after all—and decided to do something before they got hurt…he winced when he remembered what would have happened to Sam if he himself hadn't…

Shaking his head, the half-ghost clenched his fists and flew into the air. He grabbed one of the octopuses' tentacles and spun around, hitting the other octopus in the face, sending it flying. Danny let go of the octopus he was spinning around and let it go flying into the other octopus, causing both ghosts to hit the wall. Danny looked at Tucker and Sam, who were sitting on the ground and looking up at Danny in awe. Danny smiled at them sheepishly, "Heh...so, uh...like it?"

"Dude...you're, like, a Danny _Phantom_ or something now!" Tucker remarked.

Sam blinked and replied, "That was actually pretty clever. 'Danny Phantom'. I like it." She smiled thoughtfully.

The indirectly-named 'Phantom' opened his mouth to agree with the rather-awesome 'superhero' name, but a tentacle hit him, sending the half-ghost flying. He hit the wall and groaned in pain, closing his eyes for a moment. Phantom opened his eyes in time to see a tentacle swinging down to him!

The ghost-powered teen quickly rolled along the wall away from it before taking off. He then punched one octopus and then unleashed a kick the other. Phantom's face was now devoid of any uncertainty or hesitation—he was full out determined to fight now!...Just in time for the octopuses to stare at him for a moment before realizing they couldn't win; this half-human, half-ghost boy was more dominant when it came to sere power. The two ghost octopuses went intangible and flew through the roof.

Phantom stared after the ghosts in surprise and spoke, "Wow, that was...easier then I expected." Tired, the ghost boy landed on the floor as his friends walked over. A tornado of ectoplasm spun around him, quickly morphing Danny Phantom back into Danny Fenton. Suddenly exhausted, he kneeled down with his hands on his knees, panting softly.

Sam reached down and helped him stand up fully before asking in a soft voice that was heard very rarely—a soft, kind, and concerned one—, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah...just fine. Um, is it just me or...were those ghosts, after I beat them up a bit...were they actually..._afraid_ of me?" He looked confused.

"Well, your ghostly glow seemed stronger then theirs. You must be more powerful then them or something." Tucker thoughtfully spoke.

"Oh...well...what now?"

Sam asked with a raised eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Danny stepped away from Sam—surprising both of the half-ghost's friends with his sudden recovered stamina. He asked, "What should we do? I mean...I just remembered that my parents made this mistake with their ghost portal thing, so even when they do come back, there's probably going to be too many ghosts for them to deal with. Should I...?" He trailed off a bit awkwardly, fidgeting with his hands.

"Fight them off?" Sam finished with a strange look on her face.

"Yeah...I mean, like you said, I have the power...so why not?" Danny smiled.

Tucker nodded, "Well, it would be kinda fun..."

"But, Danny..." Sam started, frowning deeper. That strange look was still on her face...was it a worried one? It was an emotion nether boys had seen her have before; Samantha Manson wasn't afraid of anything! Sam continued, "Even though you won that fight...they seemed weaker then you. What happens if you meet up with a ghost that's more powerful then you?"

"Then I'll have to outsmart it." Danny retorted, though not rudely so.

"Well...for that, you'll need brains." Sam motioned to herself.

Tucker snorted, "When you find some, let me know."

Sam glared and retorted, "Well...something tells me I won't find any around here." She crossed her arms and smirked.

"Guys..." Danny sighed, "can you please focus?"

"Fine, then. Well, I don't see why we don't try stopping these ghosts. Speaking of which, I hope that Lunch Lady ghost comes back so she can _pay_ for...what she did." Sam growled softly and clenched her fists angrily.

"No need. I can do that myself." Danny smiled at her, making his eyes glow green for a moment.

"Ohhhhhhhhh, the _scary_ eyes." Taunted Sam playfully.

Tucker raised an eyebrow, "Are you two _flirting_? I mean, you know, in your own creepy way..."

Danny and Sam both blushed and denied, "NO!" Key word being 'denied, of course…

"Whatever you say..." Tucker rolled his eyes, smirking a bit.

————————————————

Skulker asked, genuinely confused, "Why don't Daniel and Samantha get together?"

"Because," Clockwork sighed, "they are not ready for that, yet. Be patient; they will get together soon enough..." He chuckled.

"Well, they better. Anyway, I'm going hunting for some food." Skulker smirked, "Bye." She flew off quickly. Clockwork rolled his eyes, but didn't reply, as the Time Screen caught his attention.

_Phantom winced, trying to hold the door closed with his bare hands, unless you counted the exo-skeleton that was attached to his back, arms, and legs. He let out a grunt as he strained to keep the door closed, "Come on, come on, come on...I...can't lose..."_

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Pariah Dark roared from in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, which is what Phantom was trying to keep closed. The ghost boy ignored him and snarled, spreading his own, green ecto-energy around the Sarcophagus, desperate to keep it closed. Phantom groaned, looking at the read-out for how much energy he had left._

_**8 percent.**_

_**7 percent.**_

_**6 percent.**_

_**Phantom groaned again, his green energy converting into blue in order to be stronger. **_

_**3 percent.**_

_**2.5 percent.**_

_**4 percent.**_

_**Phantom blinked. His energy was increasing? **_

_**6 percent.**_

_**12 percent.**_

_**23 percent.**_

_**37 percent.**_

_**Phantom took his chance; the blue energy became violet, then red, and then finally a pure-white.**_

_**7 percent.**_

_**5 percent.**_

_**3 percent.**_

_**Blue waves of energy surged from the sarcophagus, spreading out from Pariah's keep and all over the Ghost Zone, restoring the Zone and making Amity Park go back to the human realm. **_

_**2 percent.**_

_**Phantom fell to his knees, de-transforming into his human form.**_

_**1 percent.**_

Clockwork cancelled the image with a frown. He guessed the boy probably died thanks to that exoskeleton, and as Danny's new guardian, Clockwork didn't want to see that at all.

Still...the boy wasn't to be underestimated...Clockwork sighed, "I will worry about that later..."

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A bit more foreshadowing in the end, with Clockwork...


	6. Training Troubles 1

...I will admit it, I use Clockwork scenes in order to increase the length of the chapters. Meh.

Also, if you have a hard time imagining Purgatory!Danny's transformation into Phantom, just imagine Jake Longs transformation into the American Dragon for AD:JL's second season…but with green energy instead of blue.

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_**Act 3: Training Troubles**_

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**Chapter 6**

"Ok, hotshot, let's see what ya' got." –Sam, Maternal Instincts

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"So...what did you call us over for, again?" Tucker asked, confused.

Danny rolled his eyes, "I told you on the phone...since I'm going to be fighting ghosts, with my powers are still kinda malfunctioning...I realized that maybe I shouldn't just use them when I absolutely need to...if I use them on purpose, maybe I can learn to control them quicker?"

"Well...I guess that makes sense." Sam admitted, "Um, which is surprising for you...!"

Danny nodded before standing up straight. He brought his hands up and clenched his fists behind his neck as he announced, "I'm goin' _ghost_!" He jumped a few feet into the air, moving his arms down. As he made these movements, a tornado of green ectoplasm swirling around him. Once it faded away, it revealed the ectoplasm had been transforming him into Phantom. He was already mid-air when the morphing stopped, so he simply started hovering. "What?" Phantom asked after a short pause.

Tucker asked, "You have a catch-phrase, now?"

"A battle cry." Sam corrected.

"What she said." Phantom confirmed, pointing at Sam a moment, "I found it's easier to 'go ghost' when I actually announce I'm about to do so."

Tucker shook his head and grinned, "There goes any doubts I had that you'd become a superhero!"

Phantom sighed, "Right...anyway, my parents made this cool 'training course' thingy in the lab. Jazz went out, so we have the lab for ourselves."

He concentrated hard enough and ended up intangible. The ghost boy went through the floor. Sam and Tucker, knowing he had gone down into the lab, ran through the kitchen and down the stairs into the Fenton's lab. Once the techno-geek and goth girl were in the lab, Phantom pressed a button on a control panel and a screen on the wall flashed the words, **Training simulation activated. Beginners level.**

Phantom turned to his friends and grinned, "Here goes nothing!"

Suddenly, holes folded out of the walls, roof, and floor, revealing cardboard cut-outs of generic-looking ghosts as well as a few of the most famous ones that attacked Amity Park a lot. The instant they were all out of the walls/roof/floor, the green-eyed ghost boy sprung into action with a punch that destroyed a few of the cardboard ghosts. With a kick he destroyed another and he swiftly spun around to destroy another with the back of his right fist. He continued to destroy more and more cardboard ghosts with rather impressive fighting skills.

Meanwhile, Phantom's friends were watching this scene with slight awe. Tucker because the scene was totally awesome, and Sam because the sight of her long-time crush totally kicking ass was—even she could admit so—hot. _'Especially in that hazmat suit,' _The goth girl mused suddenly. She found herself start to blush, but luckily nether of her friends noticed.

Danny Fenton's alter-ego ducked under one of the moving cardboard ghosts and quickly spin-kicked it and unleashed a swift punch to destroy one about to ram into him. In moments, he had fully destroyed all the cardboard ghosts. The spots in which they stuck out of the wall/roof/floor folded in again, signaling that part of training was over. A few steel walls suddenly came up from the floor and from the roof in front of Phantom. The ghost boy smiled and went intangible to phase through them. He phased through the last one and landed in front of his friends, regaining his solid form.

"Dude, that was awesome! How'd you learn how to fight like that!?" Tucker asked, amazed.

Phantom shrugged, "I wish I knew." He hovered closer to his friends and reverted to his human form in mid-air with the usual tornado of ectoplasm. He landed on the ground after fully becoming human again, the green glow around him fading away after a moment. Danny sighed, "Well, I think that's enough for one day!"

The half-ghost crossed his arms and smiled proudly. Suddenly, he gasped and he was able to see his breath, swirling out of his mouth as a blue ectoplasmic mist.

"Oh, no..."

Soon after the incident with the ectopusses, the three friends realized that this power that made him see his breath was a 'ghost sense'. Luckily, as long as he was concentrating, it didn't make him shiver anymore. Unfortunately, it had other properties; for one, it was blue instead of colorless mist, which meant somebody might notice it one time. Also, it woke him up if it went of when he was sleeping, which annoyed him greatly.

Danny glared at the Fenton Portal, the portal his parents made to the 'Ghost Zone', where all ghosts exist; the portal was the only way ghosts were able to get out of the 'Zone. The doors on the portal had slid open and it was obvious that a ghost was going to come out, since Danny's 'ghost sense' was going off. Danny transformed into Phantom (like he did earlier in this chapter, bring his arms over his head and swinging them downwards as he jumped) just as the ghost his sense had picked up flew through the portal.

It was none other then the Lunch Lady Ghost.

The spectral teenager and goth girl gasped in shock at the sight of this familiar ghost. Tucker gave them confused looks and Sam suddenly growled, "It's the ghost that killed Danny!...Or, temporarily…"

"Oh..." Tucker said, sounding shocked.

Phantom hovered up to the Lunch Lady Ghost and glared, "You're the one who killed me..."

The meat-obsessed ghost stared, "Who are you?"

"None of your business." Phantom clenched his fist. Pain shot from his shoulder, down his arm, and into his fist. Green ectoplasmic energy formed in the spots that had the pain. When the pain and ecto-energy reached his fist, it began swirling around his right fist. Opening his hand a bit lazily, moving his arm up quickly, Phantom aimed it at the Lunch Lady ghost and the ectoplasm surged from his hand, hitting the ghost who had killed him.

The Lunch Lady ghost was sent flying back into the Fenton Portal. Phantom suddenly fell to his knees and reverted to his human form, the energy of the new attack plus the pain in his arm too much for him.

"Danny!" Sam gasped, running over to her friend/secret crush. She asked, helping him up, "How'd you do that?"

"I...I don't know." Danny admitting, staring at his right hand in awe.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Tucker grinned, "Was that a new ghost power?"

Danny nodded, "Yeah, I guess. Too bad I don't really know how I did that!" He 'went ghost' and tried again, but it didn't work.

Sam put a hand on his shoulder, "Maybe it only works when you're angry. Anyway, why'd you change back?"

Phantom frowned, "It took a lot of energy and…it kind-of hurt, too. Anyway, I'm just glad to have _some_ payback. I'd follow the Lunch Lady into the Ghost Zone, but I do _not_ want to be _there_ again!"

"What's the chance of you having to go back in there again, anyway?" Tucker rolled his eyes.

"He's right, for once." Sam quipped, gently squeezing Phantom's shoulder again, "Come on, you need some rest."

Phantom nodded tiredly, letting green ectoplasm swirl around him, de-transforming him. Danny Fenton then smiled lazily at her, "Thanks, Sam…"

Sam smiled a small smile, _'He has no idea about the effect he has on me…' _"You're welcome, Danny. What are friends for?"

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The next day was uneventful at first, except maybe when Danny 'dropped' some beakers in Science thanks to his intangibility acting up. Their teacher, Mr. Falluca, was a nice guy (a short, bald guy with glasses) and didn't punish him, thinking Danny was just being more clumsy then usual.

"If only he knew," Sam chuckled as the trio walked out of the classroom.

"I'd prefer he never found out." Danny dryly pointed out. He then asked, changing the subject, "So, I have been meaning to ask…why did you bring me back to life, anyway? I mean, I'm thankful but…am I really worth it?" He sighed.

"Of course you are!" Sam's eyes widened, "You're my best friend! You…you saved my life, Danny. I thought I should do the same."

"So…you owed me?" Danny asked, curious.

Sam scowled, "No! I just…I…I couldn't live without you, ok? I missed you…so much…I…I couldn't take it…you died saving _me_ Danny. _I'm _the one who has the worthless life." She looked down, her hair covering her face before she brushed it away with her hand.

Danny stared wide-eyed, "Sam, that isn't true." Tucker, realizing that this moment was important for his friends, snuck off quietly. Nether Danny nor Sam noticed. Danny continued, "I mean…a lot of people think that about themselves, but you out of all of them shouldn't! _I_ think you're important…" Danny wrapped an arm around Sam's shoulder and hugged her gently.

Sam smiled sadly, blushing a little, "…Thanks."

"No problem." He smiled.

"…You can…stop hugging me." Sam flushed, looking away.

"Oh, r-right. S-sorry." Danny let go, his arm phasing out for a moment.

Sam shyly smiled, "It's not your fault. Well, yeah, it is, but um…I can't punch you or you'll ghost out in front of everyone." She was thankful that she was able to find excuses so easily, being much smarter then Danny or Tucker _combined_ all the time.

Danny rolled his eyes, "Whatever." He gasped as his 'ghost sense' activated, "Speaking of ghosting out…" He dived into a nearby closet to transform. There was a green flash within the closet and green ectoplasm was seen inside. When the flash died down, Phantom flew intangibly out of the closet, flying down the hallway invisibly while in search of the ghost. He almost ran into Mr. Lancer, but quickly phased through the teacher, stumbling through the air. He flipped a few times mid-air, phasing into another closet and de-transforming quickly while inside.

Sam bemusedly walked over to the closet after seeing the flash inside, opening it as she said, "Smooth move, hero boy."

Danny glared and stood up, "Well, at least I tried…wait, where's the ghost?"

Sam pointed over her shoulder. One of the most infamous, not to mention annoying, ghosts flew down the hallway—the Box Ghost. The goth girl admitted, "Just that idiot. Don't worry about it, Dan."

"Oh, ok. Good thing it's just that idiot." Chuckled Danny.

As if on cue, the Box Ghost floated down to them and said, "I have found you, son of the ghost hunters! I am here to warn you! All of us ghosts have finally decided we should get our revenge on your family name! I must be off...BEWARE!" The Box Ghost went intangible and phased through the roof.

Danny sighed, "Well...that isn't good."

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"He's right, you know. This is not good at all," Skulker warned Clockwork with a frown.

"Hm, you're right...I need to make sure he is ready..." Clockwork thoughtfully smiled. "Skulker, can you do something for me?"

"Anything for you, Clocky," Skulker dryly replied, rolling her eyes (though you couldn't tell as her eyes were fully filled with green energy).

Clockwork pretended not to notice the sarcasm, "Good. Can you please...'test' our dear Phantom for me?"

Skulker chuckled, "Sure, but if I end up hurting him, I'll blame you!" Clockwork just chuckled and pointed to the Time Screen, motioning to it. The hunter-ghost nodded and jumped into the screen.

Clockwork smiled mysteriously, chuckling to himself at Skulker's eagerness...and arrogance, sort of...

Still, he wasn't worried. Everything was as it should be...for now.

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_DUN, DUN, DUUUUUUUUN_!

...Right...please review!


	7. Training Troubles 2

Yes, this chapter is beginning with Skulker. Because I have become almost obsessed with Limbo!Skulker, because she's fun to write about. Seriously.

And yes, I am trying to make the chapters shorter then most of them that I write for my other stories. Nevertheless, I tried to make this one longer then the first six ones…I don't think I succeeded, though.

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**Chapter 7**

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Skulker floated throughout the skies of Amity Park, obviously invisible just in case anyone just so happened to look up. Her mission was to test the ghost child, not draw any attention, after all!

"Well, I'm bored." A familiar voice spoke, slightly startling Skulker.

Skulker smirked and, after making a quick system check to make sure she was unable to set off the young half-ghost's 'ghost sense', the hunter-ghost floated around the corner to see the ghost boy and his two fully-human friends. Well, that dark-skinned boy was human...Skulker wasn't too sure about the one dressed in black...

"Danny's right. We need some excitement." The dark-skinned boy complained.

The gothic one glared and hit him on the back of the head, "Idiot!"

The supposedly 'human' boy who was secretly Phantom, the ghostly superhero in his 'human form' raised an eyebrow, "What'd you do that for, Sam?" He smiled a bit.

'Sam' sighed, "Everytime somebody says that, something _bad_ happens. Right?"

"Sam, you watch too many movies." Danny rolled, "Or Tucker is getting to you..."

"I never get to her. She's too serious and dark to be influenced by my total awesomeness." The dark-skinned boy—Tucker—quipped.

Skulker smirked a bit. This 'Tucker' reminded her of Technus a bit, with the arrogance and such...the hunter-ghost then decided now was a good time to reveal her presence. Skulker hovered over the trio, still invisible as she innocently flew by the ghost boy.

'_This should be fun...'_

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Danny pointed out, "Tucker, the reason she isn't 'influenced' by you is because she hates your guts."

Sam quipped, "Guilty as charged."

"Hey!" Tucker sounded offended.

Before Danny could reply, he gasped as a swirl of blue mist escaped his mouth. He groaned, "Aw, man...sorry, guys, I have a job to do."

Tucker shrugged, "Oh, well! At least now we have some excitement...!"

"I told you! Everytime somebody says something like 'what could possibly go wrong' or 'I wish there was some excitement', something bad happens!" Our favorite goth girl sneered slightly as Tucker just frowned.

"Yeah, well"—Danny called upon the tornado of ectoplasm surging around him, green energy in his hands as the tornado spun around him, transforming him into Phantom as he continued—"I could use someone to take my aggression on!" He smirked slightly, punching his fist into his hand as the last traces of the ecto-energy of his transformation fading away after he finished speaking.

Skulker chose that moment to materialize her form. She picked Phantom up by the back of his jumpsuit. The hunter-ghost raised her eyebrows in amusement, "You're the ghost child, huh?"

Phantom pulled away and kicked Skulker onto her back. The hunter-ghost stared wide-eyed as the ghost boy asked, confused, "Who are you?"

Skulker rolled her eyes, stood up, and brushed herself off, "Well, since you asked so _nicely_"—the sarcasm made Phantom wince a little—"I am Skulker, the greatest huntress in the Ghost Zone. It's very nice to meet you...Phantom." She crossed her arms and smirked.

"How do you know my name?" Demanded Phantom.

"Well, other then the fact you're pretty famous in the Ghost Zone," Skulker rolled, "a friend of mine told me. Now, enough talk!" Skulker formed her hand into cannon and aimed it at Phantom's head, "More fighting!"

Phantom yelped and dived to the side as a blue blast of energy shot from the cannon, barely missing the ghost boy. His human friends ducked under it, just in case it wasn't made for just ghosts. Phantom glared in determination, flying up into the air and making a 'come here' motion with two fingers, "Bring it on!" He smirked slightly.

Skulker sneered, "You asked for it!" She flew up and punched with the hand that was still a normal hand. Phantom, to her shock, easily caught the fist; though there was some strain on his face, it seemed that he wasn't trying that hard. Phantom then, putting his other hand on her wrist, spun around and threw Skulker to the ground.

The hunter-ghost raised an eyebrow as Phantom landed on the ground, glaring down at her. He questioned, "What do you want with me? I haven't done anything!"

Skulker once again rolled her eyes, though you couldn't tell without pupils, but she did smile sarcastically, "I was told to. I don't have any other reason, actually…I really don't have anything _better_ to do!"

"…O…kay." Phantom blinked, "Why did someone send you to attack _me_?"

"I dunno'…he wanted to test your strength or something." Shrugged Skulker, managing to stand up. _'Weird…he's managed to injure my body, and all he's done is throw me into the ground…he seems to be much stronger then I anticipated, especially when it comes to physical strength…interesting…' _

Sam remarked, "Just a second…are you, like, a robot or something?" She looked genuinely confused.

Skulker frowned, a little hurt, "I'll have you know that I was alive! A…long time ago…" She trailed off, but shook her head. "No matter. Prepare to lose, whelp." A glowing blade appeared from her wrist, which she slashed at Phantom. The ghost boy ducked under it and grunted in concentration. Green energy swirled around his hand and rested at his left hand. He raised it and slammed an ecto-blast into the hunter-ghost, sending her flying across the street.

"Hey, it worked!" Phantom smiled, the green energy in his hand fizzling away.

"Hmph, didn't see that coming…!" Skulker admitted, standing up and smirking. Weapons suddenly appeared, folding out from her back and some even from her arms and legs. They all aimed towards Phantom, who stared wide-eyed in fear.

"Dude…that…is…_awesome_." Tucker said. Sam slapped him upside the head. "OW! What, it's true!"

Phantom rolled his eyes a bit. Tucker's weirdness—if that's what you could call it—distracted him, letting Skulker hit him without trouble. The ghost boy was sent flying, bouncing along the ground a few times before resting in between his friends. He groaned in pain, a tornado of green energy swirling around him. When the energy faded away, the ghostly wanna-be superhero was replaced by his human form as Danny _Fenton_, who groaned a second time.

Sam snarled angrily, stepping front of Danny, "Leave him alone!"

"…" Skulker stared at her dryly, "Or what, human girl?"

"Don't say I didn't warn you…!" The goth girl snarled, rolling her sleeves up as if about to fight, stomping angrily towards the huntress-ghost.

Tucker grabbed Sam by the shoulders and pulled her back, "Sam, please, let me handle this.

Skulker thought, _'This should be good.' _Sam was thinking the very same thing, but neither of them knew this of course. Tucker pulled out his PDA and began punching commands in it. Skulker asked, "What are you doing, whelp?" The spectral huntress tried to peek over the techno-geek's shoulder, but Tucker waved her off and chuckled, stepping away.

"This!" Tucker suddenly smirked, pressing a button on his PDA. Skulker's eyes widened as the control panel on her arm suddenly read **Fly away into the Ghost Zone and don't come back. **

"Oh, great." Skulker sighed, "Well, I tried." She went intangible, invisible, and flew off.

"What was that all about?" Tucker wondered.

Sam frowned, "Hey! I wanted to stop the ghost!" She pouted slightly.

Tucker ignored her and asked, "Danny? You ok, dude?"

"Yeah…I think so. Thanks for the save, guys." Danny smiled at his friends.

"You're welcome." Sam said, proudly.

Tucker scowled, "Hey! Without me, Danny's pelt would be at the foot of that huntress' bed!"

Danny rolled his eyes, "Never mind, you two. Tucker's right, though…something weird is going on. Who was that? Why was she after me?"

Sam shrugged, "I don't know, but I'm just glad she's gone…though those weapons were awesome!"

"I have to agree with Sam on that one!" Tucker grinned, "Though I had a hard time hacking into her systems…and this PDA is new! Hm, maybe ghost technology is more advanced…" He looked thoughtful.

"Guys, this is serious!" Danny sighed, "I don't know why, but…I have this…feeling that something bad is going to happen."

Sam smirked, "I'm sure it's just you. What bad could possibly happen?"

————————————————

"If only she knew." Sighed Clockwork.

As if on cue, Skulker flew in and scowled, "That was humiliating! How did that human child get through my firewall, anyway? He can't be _that_ good!"

Clockwork smiled a bit, "Actually, yes, he is. The dark-skinned boy is Tucker Foley, a boy with more knowledge then he lets on…though he isn't modest when it comes to his knowledge in technology. He is incredibly gifted when it comes to technology. That includes hacking, which is why he was able to so easily hack your systems."

"Huh…sounds like a human version of Technus." Skulker rolled, "But more modest…just as arrogant, though."

Clockwork couldn't help but laugh at that—he found jokes people made strangely hard to predict—and smirk a little, "Here…I shall reset time around the techno-geek's PDA. Now it is like he never 'hacked' you, even though he will remember doing so. You must try again…" he pointed at the Time Screen.

Skulker sighed, "Fine...this time I'm staying away from that Foley child, though!" She flew into the screen for the second time in the past, oh, hour.

The Master of Time Itself smiled to himself. Seeing as how he could see into the future, he already knew what was about to happen, and it was probably good that it was…the future depends on it, after all…

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Um, it's not really a cliffhanger, but…ah, well!

_**Please review! I'd appreciate it a **_**lot**__


	8. Training Troubles 3

Things are getting a bit more exciting…

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**Chapter 8**

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"I can't believe Tucker didn't want to come with us." Sam remarked as she and Danny walked down the street to Danny's house. Sam knew her house was closer, but she didn't want either of her two best—and only—friends to find out—!

Sam's thoughts were interrupted by Danny's reply to her remark. The half-ghost boy chuckled, "Yeah, considering how, since he found out I got that [X-box 360, he's been 'mysteriously' visiting my house more often." The two lovebirds-in-denial laughed. However, Danny was interrupted mid-laugh when his 'ghost sense' activated. Danny admitted, "Wow, twice in one day…that's…slightly rare."

Sam chuckled a bit, rolling her eyes, "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that." Danny half-glared at her.

Before the boy trapped in between life and death could reply, Skulker materialized in front of them with a smirk on her face. "Hello, halfa…"

"Ha-what?" Danny asked, dumbly.

"Halfa—half-a human, half-a ghost. That's what you are, right?" Skulker rolled.

"Oh, right…speaking of which…_I'm goin' ghost_!" Danny brought his hands up over his head, jumped up, and swung his arms downward, green energy swirling around him and transforming him into Phantom.

Skulker laughed, "You have a _battle cry_?"

Phantom went red in embarrassment. Green energy surged from his shoulders and down to each of his hands thanks to his annoyance. He raised his green-glowing hands and unleashed the blasts into the spectral huntress, sending Skulker flying into a wall. The ghost boy said, "How do we beat her without Tucker?"

"Um, oh, I don't know…_fighting her_!" Sam pointed out.

"…I guess that would work." Phantom blinked.

Skulker rolled her eyes, _'Clockwork might be right…this boy needs to be more confident with himself…hm…' _She smirked a little and stood up. "Come on, ghost boy, is that the best you can do…?"

"Not by a long shot!" Phantom retorted, diving towards the huntress-ghost and punching at her. Skulker ducked under the punch and attempted an uppercut. To her shock, Phantom caught it! Though with some strain, Phantom smirked, "S…see?" He back-flip-kicked Skulker, knocking her onto her back.

Skulker shook her head and glared in determination, blue ecto-energy forming in her hands. She remarked, "Hmph, you're more impressive then I thought...not by much, but I'm not complaining." The huntress-ghost smirked and, putting her hands together, released a huge blast that slammed into Phantom, sending him flying. The energy spread around his body and weakened him to the point where green energy quickly swirled around him, morphing him back into the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Danny Fenton, who hit the ground tiredly.

Danny groaned, "Aw, man..."

"Come and get me, ghost boy!" Skulker taunted, flying high into the air.

"Danny! Go after her!" Sam helped Danny up, but didn't hold him up.

Danny stumbled a little, but shook his head and regained his balance, "Ok, ok!" He brought his hands over his head and swung them down as he jumped, the tornado of green ecto-energy transforming him into his ghostly form quickly. He took off after Skulker. The huntress-ghost smirked and went intangible, phasing into Danny's house known as 'FentonWorks'. Phantom went intangible as well and followed quickly. The ghost boy passed his human parents, Jack and Maddie Fenton, who didn't notice his or Skulker's intangible forms.

Skulker landed on the floor of the lab/basement of FentonWorks, where there was the 'gate' between the human and ghost realms: the Fenton Ghost Portal. She pressed a button on her wrist that forced the portal to open. She glanced over her shoulder to see Phantom hovering there.

The ghost boy demanded, "Hey! You are so not getting away from _me_!"

"Well, ok...if you really want to fight again." Skulker rolled her eyes, spinning around and unleashing all her weapons from her back, arms, wrists, shoulders, neck, and even her legs. All the weapons aimed towards Phantom, who stared wide-eyed. Skulker smirked, "What? This is only a sample of my power, whelp."

"Oh, really?" Phantom asked.

"Yeah, really."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, _really_."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh, reaaaaaaalllllllllllllyyyyy?"

"Yes...really." Skulker's left eye twitched.

'_It's working...' _"Oh...ok...really?"

"Yeah, _really_!" Skulker half-glared.

"...Really?"

"_Yes, __really_!" Skulker waved her arms angrily.

"Reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?" Phantom cocked his head curiously to the side.

"YES! YES, I AM MUCH MORE POWERFUL THEN HOW YOU SEE ME NOW! DO YOU _WANT_ ME TO GO ALL OUT? HUH? HUH, YOU LITTLE PUNK!" Skulker roared angrily, her pupil-less, glowing green eyes glowered down at Phantom as she towered over him.

Phantom frowned thoughtfully, "Well, sure."

Skulker snarled, "If that's what you really want!" More weapons folded out from the other weapons, until, basically, she was covered by weapons. The only part of her you could see clearly was her face, which scowled at the ghost boy angrily, "There! Are you happy now, Phantom?"

"Yeah! Because now, I can do this." Phantom replied, calmly. He went intangible and phased through the floor. He phased back up behind Skulker and grabbed a nearby fishing rod-looking device with blue string. This was the Fenton Fisher, which used ghost-proof string. He quickly cast the line at Skulker, who was unable to move at all. The hook caught onto one of the weapons. Phantom pulled back with as much strength as possible, flinging Skulker at the Fenton Portal.

"You haven't seen the last of meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Skulker shouted as she disappeared through the portal.

Phantom quickly flew over and shut the portal. He sighed in relief and, going intangible, flew through the roof of the lab. Just in time, too, as his father glanced into the lab and looked around suspiciously.

Jack mumbled to himself, "Huh...I thought I heard somethin' down here." He shrugged and turned back into the kitchen.

However, the orange jumpsuited man did not notice the Fenton Portal be forced open by two, crimson glowing hands. A certain vampire-looking ghost hovered out of the portal and mused, "Well, that was easy. I can't believe I let that foolish Skulker force me back into that horrible place! I wasn't going to do anything!...Well, except hurt that idiotic, orange jumpsuited, paunchy bast—!" Plasmius was interupted by a bunch of Fenton-labeled crates falling on him, causing him to cry out in surprise. The creates would have phased through him, but they were made of anti-phase steel.

He grunted under his breath, "_Butter Biscuits_! This is why I don't use normal swears..."

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Clockwork frowned at this scene. This was not good...Plasmius was not supposed to interfere. Still...Daniel could use the experience, couldn't he?

Skulker flew into the room, making Clockwork smirk at the sight. The huntress-ghost hadn't flew in on purpose, as she was unable to do anything with all the weapons stuck. She glared at Clockwork, "Help...me...!" Clockwork rolled his eyes and reached forward, casually poking one of the weapons. Instantly, all of the weapons folded back into Skulker's body. She sighed in relief, brushing herself off. Skulker gratefully looked at Clockwork, "Thanks."

"No problem." Clockwork nodded.

"So...what now?" The huntress-ghost asked, crossing her arms.

"I'm afraid I might have to...personally interfere earlier then I originally predicted." Clockwork admitted, staring at the Time Screen where the image of Plasmius in the Fentons' lab was paused. "Much earlier..."

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In case you didn't get it, if Vlad tries to use a 'normal' swear, something bad always happens to him. Also, Clockwork does not need a staff to use his time powers. I should have mentioned that earlier, but...

Oh, and even though Clockwork has to 'interfere personally' earlier then he originally though, he won't meet Danny 'early', so to speak. They won't meet for a while, actually. Clockwork originally though he wasn't going to meet Danny for a _long_ time...which will be explained soon enough...hehhehheh...


	9. Demonic Enemies & Dark Magic 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own the show __**Reaper**__, though I wish I did...!_

In this chapter, we see more of Sam's, err, dark side. Oh, and I'm finding it easier to find quotes from DP! I might also use more quotes from something other then the show, but...

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_**Act 4: Demonic Enemies and Dark Magic**_

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**Chapter 9**

"Crazy? Don't say crazy!" —Danny, The Fenton Menace

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Our trio of heroes were at the movies, watching **Dead Teacher: The Movie**. One Samantha Manson was practically bouncing up and down with excitement, especially during the gory scenes, while Danny Fenton, Tucker Foley, and the rest of those watching the movie (including some other goths like Sam) were staring at the screen in horror. Sam seemed to be the only person who was enjoying the movie...at all.

"Oh my God…" Danny Fenton whimpered as the fifty-third person was killed, this time by the teacher zombies all surrounding the female student and eating her from all sides. The ghost boy almost fell through his seat out of fear; his ghost powers were still acting up a little lately, after all.

"Man…that's just…_brutal_…!" Tucker Foley added, a strange green tint to his dark skin; he was never a fan of horror movies, especially the graphic ones!

Sam, however, squealed with glee, "That…was…awesome! Did you see that? I mean, that was the girl we all thought was the main protagonist! I love false protagonists! Sweet!" She happily bounced in her seat, eyes wide with awe. Danny and Tucker exchanged amused glances, taking this as a chance to look away from the movie.

Danny said to the one who 'revived' him into his half-alive, half-dead state, "Only you can enjoy this movie, Sam. Seriously."

Sam blushed a little, "Yeah, well…"

Danny's ghost sense took that moment to activate, the swirl of blue gas forcing it's way out of Danny's mouth so it could tauntingly hover into a spot where he could only see it through his left eye. Just as the wisp of blue evaporated, the halfa spoke, "I've gotta go. Not that I'm complaining…"

The halfa shuddered as, on screen, the fifty-fourth person died. Danny shook his head to clear his head, hoping that he wasn't going to have nightmares. Still, he ran off, out of the theatre room and over to the bathrooms. He dived inside and, after silently making sure no-one was in the bathrooms, he announced to himself, "Goin' ghost..."

Green sparks shot around him, forming larger swirls of ectoplasm that twirled around him at a fast pace. When the ectoplasm died down, Danny Fenton was off into God-knows-where, the ghost boy known as Phantom standing in his place. Well, technically, they were the same person…yet they weren't…

The ghostly teenager went intangible, phasing through the roof quickly. He soon found himself high in the skies of Amity Park. It was late evening; according to the watch on his wrist before he transformed into Phantom moments earlier, it was eight in the afternoon. Luckily, his curfew wasn't until eleven, so he still had three hours of hanging out with his friends.

…Or, less then three hours, if the ghost caused too much problems…which he would _not_ be surprised about, knowing his luck.

As if on cue, a beam of blue ectoplasmic energy slammed into his back, causing Phantom to cry out in pain as he was sent somersaulting through the air. He recovered and spun around to see—nothing? Looking around, Phantom thought, _'What the...what just happened?' _Frowning, he concentrated on his 'ghost sense' so he could tell if the ghost was in the area. If it was, it wasn't in his ghost sense's range. Phantom shook his head and thought to himself, _'Anybody here? Um, preferably a ghost...actually, preferably just my imagination shooting imagin-blasts at me...but, uh...never mind.'_

"**I'm not just your imagination, ghost boy..."**

"Wh-who's there?" The halfa demanded, looking around and entering a battle pose. He got no response. He then realized, _'Wait, I didn't say that aloud!'_

"**Correct..."**

'_What...who are you?' _Phantom questioned.

"**Why do you want to know? Perhaps I'm just a little voice in your head...perhaps you are imagining things...perhaps you are going insane...?"**

'_Shut up! SHUT UP!' _Phantom mentally screamed.

**The voice chuckled darkly, "Why should I? What are you gonna' do, hurt me? I'll have you know, a measly ghost such as yourself couldn't even **_**dream **_**of hurting someone of my power!" **

Phantom snorted, _'Wow, you're arrogant, aren't you?'_

**The voice somehow 'mentally' glared**—Phantom could tell—**and snarled, "You're in no position to insult me, Phantom!"**

'_How do you know who I am?' _The halfa asked cautiously.

"**You are quite famous in purgatory..."**

'_Where?'_

**The voice sighed, "The place you call the 'Ghost Zone'. Duh..."**

Phantom blinked, _'Oh...wait, isn't purgatory the place where souls are 'purified' so they can go to Heaven...?'_

"**Wow, you're smarter then you look." **The ghost boy flushed in anger. **"But yeah, you're right...sort of. You can chose whether or not to be 'purified'...a long time ago, you were forced to be purified...anyway, you can got to Purgatory from Heaven or Hell if you want, and, from there, here into the human realm. Not many do this, but some do...usually with permission from 'the man', but..."**

'_...The 'man'? You mean...you know...?'_ Phantom awkwardly questioned.

"**Yes, either Him, or...the other Him. You have reason to hesitate using what their 'names' are...a lot of us feel the same way...not me, sometimes, but, um, that's not the point..."**

'_Wait, why are we talking? What do you want with me?'_

"**What, can't I just say hello?" The voice chuckled, "Actually, I do need some help...I need you to capture a demon for me."**

'_A demon? Really? Sweet!'_

"**...I guess, yeah, it is kinda' cool when you think about it...I'm one of the Devil's Grim Reapers, and the demon I need you to capture is one that escaped without permission."**

'_...Ok, either this is serious, or I'm having a dream that is being caused from me watching that show '__**Reaper**__' too often...'_

"**Um, right. I must be going. Don't worry, Phantom, the demon will be easy to spot..." And with that...**the voice was gone.

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Yes, that was the end of the chapter. The next one will be directly after that 'ending'.

...Basically, this was a cliff-hanger. Something I don't do often, mostly because I don't like doing so...meh...

And yes, the 'voice' is a very important character. No, it's not an OC, and it is somebody you will _not _expect. Trust me, I'm going to have fun with this! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!...Oh...you're...still there.

Ahem...

...Please review!


	10. Demonic Enemies & Dark Magic 2

...Cheese.

_Disclaimer: If the ending to the fictional movie __**Dead Teacher**__ is similar to the ending of a real movie, it's a coincidence. _

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**Chapter 10**

"I am the Box Ghost!"—The Box Ghost, various episodes

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Phantom blinked, _'Well, that was weird.' _He could _tell_ that the voice's presence was gone. Hm...oh, well. He had a movie to get back to, anyway! Phantom phased down into the washrooms. Becoming tangible, he made sure he was alone and let the green energy spin around him like a tornado, de-morphing him into Danny Fenton mid-air. He landed without flinching, used already to landed from rather high heights.

Danny walked back into the theatre room, finding his spot with his friends easily as there weren't that many people around the spot they were in. Tucker was clinging to his seat, staring at the screen with horror. Sam was smiling a slightly creepy smile.

Danny sat down beside Sam and whispered, "What's happening?"

Sam was going to respond when their was a shudder-inducing shriek heard from the movie. Sam squealed like a fan girl while Danny and Tucker stared at the screen in horror. Tucker fainted thanks to his hemophobia **(1)**, while Danny just clutched at his chest, panting softly as he desperately tried to keep his body tangible and heart under control.

Sam rolled her eyes, "You two are such wimps." She didn't seem to notice most of the other people in the room had also fainted—even some other goths.

"Why did they let us into this movie?" Danny whimpered, trying to resist fainting like Tucker.

"...You phased us in, remember." Sam smirked.

"Ah, right." Danny flushed. _'I am so not letting Sam talk me into something like this again...' _Suddenly, the movie's credits began, to Danny's surprise. "It's over?"

Sam nodded, "Yeah. Turns out that that girl that died before you went to the bathroom was actually alive and that she was the killer the whole time. I was surprised, but hey, who cares! It was awesome! Anyway, she was the one who just died there, being killed by her boyfriend, the second-main character. Sweet, huh?" She grinned.

Danny smirked, "Tell that to Tucker." He motioned to the unconscious techno-geek.

"Pfft, wimp." Sam rolled her eyes, "Come on, lets carry 'im home."

"Fine." Danny picked up the techno-geek by his ankles. Sam held up the techno-geek by the head. Danny turned all three of them (including himself, obviously) invisible and intangible. They phased through the wall and outside.

"I'll carry him the rest of the way." Sam said. Danny shrugged and put Tucker down gently. Sam then began dragging him down the sidewalk...until he woke up.

"OW! OW! OW! HEY! SAM! STOP TH—OW! STOP IT! OW!" Tucker wailed.

Sam blinked innocently and let go of Tucker's legs. The techno-geek stood up and glared angrily as the goth girl innocently asked, "Sorry, I didn't notice you were awake!"

Danny rolled his eyes at their weirdness, but gasped as his ghost sense activated. The Box Ghost flew up and announced, "I am the Box Ghost! Fear me!"

The trio stared blankly.

"...Fear me!"

"Fear me!"

"Fear me!"

"Fear me!"

"Fear me!"

"WHY WON'T YOU FEAR ME!?!" The Box Ghost angrily screamed.

"Dude, you aren't scary." Danny pointed out, "Um, you do know that, right?"

"...Beware my fear-inspiring aura of doom!" The Box Ghost stupidly shouted.

Danny sighed, "I don't know why I'm going to bother, but I'm still _goin' ghost_!" He spread his arms out at his sides as if inviting somebody to hug him, ready to smoothly transform into Phantom. Sam, however, thought he wanted a hug, so she shrugged and hugged him. Danny paused, eyes widening slightly. He said, "Uh...Sam?"

Sam asked, looking up with a smirk, "What?"

"...Please let go." Danny whimpered, blushing.

"Fine...you're no fun." Sam frowned, pulling away. _'Mmmmm...he smells like ectoplasm...which...isn't that surprising.'_

Danny sighed and announced again, "_I'm goin' ghost_!" He this time brought his arms above his head, jumped, and swung his arms downward as he moved up, the green ecto-energy quickly spinning around him. When the energy died down, Danny was now morphed into Phantom, a determined glow in his eyes...not to mention a literal glow.

The Box Ghost pointed dramatically, "You cannot stop me, halfa! For I am the Box Ghost! Fear my ability to control all things cardboard and square!" He laughed evilly.

"..." _'Does he have any idea how lame he is?' _A certain ghost boy wondered, incredulous.

"And now I have a new power...I can prove it!" The Box Ghost added.

"New power?" Sam raised an eyebrow, "What, can you control bubble wrap, now?"

The Box Ghost blinked and pointed angrily, "Foolish goth girl, I already knew how to control bubble wrap!...Anyway, now I can do this...!" Violet energy formed in his hands, moved his arms up, and created a violet box of energy in his hands. He threw it at Phantom, who tried to dodge, but the box was too large. It slammed into him, exploding and sending him flying into the wall. The ghost boy groaned in pain, sliding down the wall and hitting the ground.

Sam's eyes widened, "Danny! Are you ok?"

"I...think so." Phantom moaned.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! You cannot defeat the new and improved Box Ghost!" I bet you can't guess who said that...

Phantom glared, "Just watch me, Box-Jerk!" He flew up into the air and punched the box-obsessed ghost, sending said ghost flying. Phantom dodged a few more ecto-cubes almost effortlessly. After dodging the sixth box, he noted, "Wow, I'm getting better at this!" As if on cue, the (lucky-)seventh box slammed into him, knocking him in between Tucker and Sam. Green ectoplasm quickly swirled around him, de-transforming him into Danny Fenton within seconds.

Sam winced, "Um...I'm guessing you're not ok this time, huh?"

Danny glared sarcastically at her, "No, really, what was your first clue?"

"HA! I have won!" The Box Ghost laughed maniacally, "I will return to defeat you again in the future, ghost boy! So long!" He flew off, laughing evilly to himself.

"That was lucky," noted Tucker.

Sam helped Danny up, "Wow, that actually was pretty awesome...for the Box Ghost, at least."

Danny ignored her and asked himself, "I wonder how he learned how to do that, anyway...wait, even the _Box Ghost_ can use energy attacks!?" He angrily morphed into Phantom and held his hands out, aiming to the ground in an attempt to fire ectoblasts. Green sparks surged around his arms, but didn't form any energy to hold in his hands, and the sparks fell harmlessly to the ground.

Tucker quipped, "Well, that's better then before, with those little sparks..."

Phantom glared at Tucker, "Gee, thanks." He let the usual movement of green ectoplasmic energy to move around him, transforming him back into Danny Fenton quickly.

"Aw, you'll get it eventually, Dan." Sam said, soothingly patting his back with a small smile on her face.

"I hope I do...I mean, really, shooting energy from my hands would be so cool!" Danny smiled.

Tucker grinned, "Yeah, that would be cool. Maybe then you could beat that Skulker chick?"

Danny glared and, raising a hand, shot at tiny ecto-blast from his finger that hit Tucker's beret, sending it flying. He stared at his finger in surprise as the green glow faded away after a few moments.

Sam smirked, "For now, I think I can settle for that." Tucker scowled while Danny just laughed.

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1 – 'hemophobia' is the fear of blood, hinting at what just happened on-screen, though it's obvious it was very, very graphic.


	11. Demonic Enemies & Dark Magic 3

All of the chapters in this story arc are going to be above 30 kilobytes!

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**Chapter 11**

"That can't be right!"—Jack after the Fenton Finder let him and Maddie to their son, Mystery Meat

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Danny chewed slowly on the cereal in his mouth, boredly staring into space. His sister, a redhead with dark blue eyes and wearing a black t-shirt with light blue jeans, was chewing on some toast and reading a book on psychology. She was Jasmine Fenton, arguably the smartest one of the family, though without a doubt the most mature. She was the only one who didn't want to grow up fighting ghosts (though she does show some skills in ghost-fighting in some rare moments); instead, she wanted to be a psychologist.

Danny's parents, Jackson 'Jack' Fenton, a rather large man wearing an orange and black jumpsuit with dark blue eyes and messy blonde hair which was graying in some parts and Madeline 'Maddie' Fenton, a curvy woman wearing a blue and black jumpsuit with dark purple eyes and short brown hair, were both working on some invention on a table separate from the one Danny and Jazz were eating at.

Jazz looked away from her book to her parents. She smiled, "What are you guys working on?"

"It's the Fenton Finder!" Jack replied.

"We don't have many radars for finding ghosts, other then the one in the RV and in the Spectre Speeder." Maddie added, "So...we made a portable one!" She smiled, removing the 'cover' of the jumpsuit from off her head, pulling the red goggles over her eyes off at the same time as they were attached to the top of the suit.

"Wait...it does _what_?" Danny asked, eyes widening. As if on cue, his arm went intangible, causing his spoon to fall into his cereal. Some of it splashed into Jazz, who quickly moved her book (**Being an Over-Protective Sister for Geniuses**) out of the way.

Jazz asked, concerned, "You ok, Dan?"

Danny nervously hid his intangible arm, "Um, yeah. I'm fine." He had thought about telling Jazz about his secret lately. The two of them had been really close when they were younger, but when they got older they grew apart. Lately, however, they grew a little closer, something which Danny appreciated since he was starting to see that his sister did mean well...though she was still annoying at times! Still, he couldn't bring himself to actually tell her...besides, she could tell his parents, which wouldn't be good...

"Anyway, me and your father are going to go ghost-hunting for the day." Maddie said.

"Yeah! Maybe we'll catch a ghost!" Jack grinned.

"Or find that ghost boy that's been spotted around town lately," Maddie mused, "he seems very unique...supposedly fighting ghosts...we'll see you kids later!" She walked out of the room.

"Whoot! To the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle!" Jack shouted happily, running after her.

"Jack! I'm driving!" Maddie was heard outside shouting.

Jazz rolled her eyes and sighed, "So...we haven't talked for a while. How are your friends doing?"

Danny smiled good-naturedly, "Uh, well, if you really care...they're ok, I guess...uh, anyway, I better get to school. See you later!" He waved and, grabbing his backpack, walked out of the kitchen and then ran out the front door. Once outside, he dived into the alley beside FentonWorks. He put his blue backpack on and brought his fists up above his hands, jumped into the air, and swung his arms down. Green sparks shot around him, an ectoplasmic tornado spinning around him, morphing him into Phantom.

The ghost boy flew through the skies of Amity Park, towards Casper High. The backpack that was on him when he was Fenton was now gone, just like all objects he had on as human when he went ghost.

However, while Phantom was flying, **he was startled by****a voice saying, "Hello, Phantom..."**

'_You! Where are you!?' _Phantom demanded, looking around wildly.

"**You can't see me, young ghost child. Only if I want you to see me can you." The voice chuckled, "Which won't happen anytime soon...hopefully..."**

'_What do you mean?'_

"**Never mind. I'm only here to warn you about future dangers. A very powerful demon is after you, young Phantom...not specifically after **_**you**_**, per se, but somebody very close to you!"**

'_What...what are you talking about?' _But...**the voice was gone.** Phantom groaned, _'Aw, man...I wish that stupid voice would stop talking in freakin' riddles!' _Before he could think too much on the subject, he heard the school bell ring in the distance. Phantom fused his legs into a spectral tail as he took off through the air, towards Casper High.

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Danny, Sam, and Tucker were sitting at a picnic table in the back field of Casper High. Tucker asked, "So...you're hearing voices?"

"I'm not crazy!" Snapped Danny, "This is serious, guys...somebody is after 'somebody close to me'. It could mean my parents, or Jazz, or even you guys! Most likely you guys, since you know about my secret!" He shook his head sadly.

"We can take care of ourselves, Danny." Sam said, off-handily.

"That's just the thing...can you?" Danny said, seriously.

Sam averted her gaze, staring down at the table quietly. Tucker said, happily, "I can! Here, think you can lend me some ghost energy?"

Danny looked around to make sure no-one was looking. The field was virtually deserted, so he nodded. Tucker gave the ghost boy his PDA. Danny blinked and closed his eyes. Green ectoplasm surged around him, morphing him into his alter-ego. Once the ectoplasm faded away, Phantom sat where Danny Fenton once was. He opened his glowing green eyes and looked in the PDA, focusing his ghost energy into it. The green glow spread into the PDA, making the meter on it charge up. Once it was at one-hundred percent, he handed it back to the techno-geek.

Tucker smiled, "Thanks, Dan." He then aimed the front of the PDA at his soda on the table. He pressed a button and a green laser slammed into said can, sending it flying. The laser was even bigger then the can despite the fact that the front of the PDA was so thin. The can looked almost obliterated when the trio looked at it after the laser was done firing.

Sam stared wide-eyed, "Oh...my...God...that is _so_ awesome!"

"I have to admit, that was pretty cool. How'd you do that?" Danny asked, confused.

Tucker shrugged, "My PDA is _ghost_-compatible." He grinned, "But seriously...that laser was pretty powerful, dude. I was expecting something less then that..."

Phantom then said, "Hey, maybe I can fire blasts now." He raised his arm at his own empty soda can, unleashing it. Surprisingly, a blast that was the size of his own can slammed into it, sending it flying even farther then Tucker's! He stared at his glowing green hand in surprise. "Cool, it worked..." He de-transformed into his human form; this time, unlike the last time he de-morphed after using a blast, he became Danny Fenton again on purpose.

However, his 'ghost sense' suddenly activated and the meat in his sandwich phased out of the sandwich itself, floating into the air. Tucker's burger did the same, phasing out of the bun and floating into the air as well.

Sam stared, "Wow...maybe all the meat has decided to get it's revenge!"

"It's either that...or the Lunch Lady ghost." Danny glared in determination, letting the green ectoplasmic tornado surge around him, morphing him into Phantom quickly just as more meat hovered into the air from the school. The trio looked around in surprise as the meat surrounded them, becoming mini-meat monsters. Phantom entered a battle pose.

"MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!" The Lunch Lady ghost phased up through the ground and laughed evilly, "I shall destroy you, ghost boy, and that vegetarian girlfriend of yours!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Phantom retorted.

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Sam angrily added. She paused and asked, "Am I?"

"No! I mean...I don't think...I mean...never mind!" Phantom shook his head.

The Lunch Lady ignored this conversation, "Now die!" The mini-meat monsters all jumped at Phantom and tackled him into the ground. He angrily tried to pull away, but they overpowered him and threw the ghost boy flying into a wall. He groaned in pain, but recovered and fired an ecto-blast into one of the meat monsters. Another ecto-blast from his other hand quickly defeated the second.

'_I'm getting better at this!' _Phantom thought, dodging a punch and punching another Meat Monster, destroying it easily. He back flipped, destroying a Meat Monster in front of and behind him. He grinned and shot a double-handed ecto-blast that destroyed a group of Meat Monsters in a row.

"He's really getting better." Tucker remarked. Sam nodded in agreement.

Phantom's eyes widened as the Meat Monsters surrounded him. They all shot ecto-blasts from around, which all slammed into him, causing him to cry out in pain as the ectoplasmic tornado was forced to spin around him. Phantom fell to his knees mid-de-transformation. When he was done the de-morphing into Danny Fenton, he was on his knees, panting.

"Or not." Tucker blinked. Sam glared at him. "What?"

Sam sighed and snatched Tucker's PDA, "Give me that!" Instead of destroying it, however, she aimed the device and pressed the button Tucker had before, shooting the ecto-laser as she intended. The large blast destroyed a Meat Monster effortlessly. She smirked, "Wow, this thing is actually useful!"

Tucker warned, "Be careful with that!"

Sam ignored him and grinned, firing more blasts from the PDA. In moments, all the Meat Monsters were destroyed! She walked over to Danny and pulled him up with one hand. The goth girl asked, "You ok, Danny?"

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks for the save." Danny said, relieved.

"Pfft, no problem. Just thank to the fact that I actually, you know, _thought _of this plan, unlike Tucker." Sam smirked at the techno-geek, who sheepishly grinned.

Before Danny could remark, the Lunch Lady shouted, "You...must...PAY!"

Danny glared and managed to morph into his ghost half again. He grabbed his friends and turned himself and them intangible just as a barrage of meat flew through their insubstantial form. Phantom turned himself and his friends tangible again and flew up to the meat-obsessed ghost, "Bring it!"

"If that's what you really want..." The Lunch Lady grinned evilly, meat floating over to her. The meat attached to her until...she was a _huge_ Meat Monster! She laughed evilly, "You cannot defeat me! I am much too powerful for such a weakling like you! Give up!" She back-handed Phantom, sending the ghost boy flying into the wall again. This time when went literally _through_ the wall as he managed to go intangible. The Meat Monster roared, "GET BACK HERE!"

Phantom phased through the wall, bruises all over his body. He groaned, but shook off the pain and took off towards the Meat Monster, desperately charging green ectoplasmic energy in his hands. He put his hands together and unleashed a large blast that sent the Meat Monster onto her back.

Sam aimed the PDA and released another laser that knocked a bunch of the meat away—and onto Tucker's plate. The techno-geek shrugged and began eating casually.

Sam rolled her eyes, _'Idiot...'_

Phantom ignored this, dodging punches from the Meat Monster. He grunted as a punch caught him off guard, sending him back flipping a few times. He shook his head and shot a quick blast that knocked some more meat onto Tucker's tray. The techno-geek grinned and eagerly continued to eat. Phantom cried out in pain as the Meat Monster head-butted him into the ground. The ghost boy bounced a few times on the ground, flipping through the air in between each bounce, until he landed on his back, his arms and legs spread out as he closed his eyes, de-transforming into Danny Fenton thanks to a tornado of green ectoplasm spinning around him.

Sam asked, "You ok?"

Danny glared at her.

"Um, sorry, standard question." Sam shrugged sheepishly.

"That is enough for today, ghost boy! I will return! Perhaps you can actually defeat me next time? I doubt it!" The Meat Monster laughed evilly, letting the meat fall off of her. The Lunch Lady ghost phased into the ground.

Danny groaned, "Great...just great...ugh..." He shut his eyes...and fell unconscious.

Sam sighed, "Oh, great. Tucker, help me carry him home."

"But...but...all this meat..." Whined Tucker, motioning to the meat all over the field. "I'm...soooooooo hungry..."

"Fine! I'll carry him home!" Sam glared at him, picking up Danny bridal style and angrily stomping off, her combat boots being smashed into the ground so roughly that she left footprints.

'_Yay!' _Tucker thought, happily eating a steak...

...Idiot...

Sam sighed as she looked down at the ghost boy—in human form, obviously—in her arms. She bit her lip. She _hated _feeling so...powerless. Sam wasn't able to fight or _anything_...she sighed.

Even if she could, Danny would never let her...

————————————————

"Um, ok..." Skulker blinked. "That Tucker really likes meat...creepy...then again"

Clockwork smiled to himself.

Skulker sighed, "So...aren't you gonna', you know, interfere?"

Clockwork nodded, "Yes, actually, I am..."

Skulker asked, curiously, "By doing what, exactly...?"

Clockwork smiled mysteriously, "Let's just say that young Samantha won't be feeling so...powerless anymore..." He chuckled.

"...I hate it when you speak so vaguely..."

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One more chapter for this story arc!


	12. Demonic Enemies & Dark Magic 4

Here's where the fun begins...I guess.

Also, keep track of all the phobias Tucker has. It's not really important, but...

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**Chapter 12**

"Tucker's right; hospitals stink."—Danny, Doctors Disorders

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"He's _what_?" Tucker asked, horrified.

"In the hospital, I know." Sam sighed, "That Lunch Lady really hurt him..." Her eye twitched with anger, but she managed to keep herself under control. "Anyway, want to come with? I'm visiting the poor guy." She crossed her arms.

"Um...no thanks, I have...stuff...to do." Tucker nervously looked around and ran off.

Sam rolled her eyes. She knew Tucker had a fear of hospitals but to the point where he wouldn't even visit his best friend? Oh, well...Sam shrugged and got on her motorized scooter, taking off down the street. She hoped Danny was ok...

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"I hate hospitals." Danny said aloud to himself; he was all alone in his hospital bed, wearing a blue hospital sheet, and really annoyed. _'I hope they don't test my blood, or they might find the ectoplasm!' _He shuddered at the thought. _'Not that they could do much...I could always just go ghost and out of here...' _He jumped as the door opened.

"Mr. Fenton, somebody is here to visit you." A doctor said; his name-tag said he was **Dr. Bert Rand**.

Danny blinked, "Um, ok."

Sam walked in quickly and practically ran over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, "Oh my God, you're ok! I was so worried! If you ever hurt yourself like this again, I swear I'll be the next one to send you to the hospital!"

"Yeah, yeah, I love you, too." Danny rolled his eyes at her, pushing her away gently, "Please don't suffocate me..."

Sam flushed, "Err, sorry."

Danny smiled good-naturedly, "That's ok. Breathing's over-rated, anyway." Sam smiled weakly at him. Danny then softened a little, "I'm sorry...I shouldn't have used all that energy...not to mention be a little more careful...I just...didn't want you to get hurt..." He looked shamefully away from Sam, closing his eyes.

Sam paused and reached forward, grabbing the halfa's chin and forcing him to look at her, "You shouldn't be sorry..." She leaned forward and gave him a peck on the lips. Danny stared at her wide-eyed, blushing a little; he went intangible momentarily, but managed to regain his solid form.

"W-wow..." Danny smiled goofily.

"Don't get any ideas, Romeo." Sam blushed as well, pulling away, "Well, at least, until you get out of the hospital." She smiled almost affectionately at Danny.

Danny blinked dumbly, "Uh, o-o-ok...um...so...what about the ghosts?"

Sam shrugged, "Me and Tucker can handle 'em."

"Speaking of Tucker...oh, right, he's a hostital-ophobe." Danny rolled his eyes.

"...That isn't a real word."

"...I knew that."

"...Right..." Sam rolled her eyes. "Well, I'll see you later." She gave the ghost boy a quick hug. "Get better soon, Romeo." She smirked and walked out of the room. Danny just smiled and closed his eyes, falling asleep...

Outside of the ghost boy's room, just as Sam went around the corner of the hallway, the ghostly doctor known as Dr. Bert Rand materialized from his invisible state with a thoughtful look on his face.

Brushing his graying hair out of his face, Bert mused, "So...he's the new halfa, huh?" He smirked and mumbled, "Interesting...very interesting, indeed..." He chuckled darkly. And so, Dr. Bert Rand went intangible and phased through the floor just as a doctor turned his head to look for whoever was talking. The doctor shrugged to himself.

"Huh, must be hearin' things..."

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Sam was at the library again, looking through the gothic books as usual. She smiled when she found a book entitled **Dark Magic for Those Who Want To Use It**. _'Sweet.' _Sam could care less if the book's 'magic' was real or not: it just looked awesome. She quickly took the book.

She couldn't help but hope that maybe...maybe this would help...

————————————————

"You planted that book!" Accused the Observant in annoyance.

Skulker looked from the Observant to Clockwork.

The Master of Time Itself replied calmly, "She needs it...or do you want the future to be in chaos?"

Skulker looked at the Observant.

"But that _book_ is _very_ dangerous!" The Observant pointed out, waving it's arms.

Skulker quickly turned her head to Clockwork; she was glad that ghosts, mechanical or not, could not get whiplash...

Clockwork sighed, "That may be true, Observant, but the girl is capable of handling it. She has, after all, a very powerful aura."

Skulker nodded in agreement, looking at the Observant to see what it's response would be.

"Yes, but—she what?" The Observant's eye widened.

The huntress-ghost was amused by this reaction; she looked over at Clockwork.

"She has a magical aura; though it's not very rare for humans who happen to have the gothic lifestyle, it's interesting to note that Samantha wasn't goth until seventh grade. Usually a human with a powerful magical aura has been 'goth' all his or her life. That, and Samantha's magic aura is _very_ powerful..." Clockwork smiled calmly. "She can handle this."

Once again, a certain mechanical-like ghost looked back at her 'boss'.

"Well...ok." The one-eyed ghost sighed and warned, "But if she dies, I will blame you, and the High Council will—!"

Skulker interupted, calmly, "Punish you for letting Clocky do this." She smirked and crossed her arms.

The Observant paused and, without a sound, spun around and floated out of Clockwork's lair.

The Master of Time Itself smirked, looking at Skulker in amusement, "Thank you."

"No prob." Skulker smirked, but got serious, "With Samantha really manage to control this magic? Many humans have died at the...um...'hands' of that book."

"That...is why I have you." Clockwork said, calmly, "If Samantha is having a problem...I have you to solve it..."

Skulker sighed, "Why do I always have to clean up your messes? Oh, right, it's my job...speaking of which, I'm taking the rest of the day off. See ya'!" Skulker flew off quickly.

Clockwork sighed, "Why did I hire her again?" There was a pause as he thought. "Ah, right, she was the only one who wanted the job..."

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Yes, we end this arc with a little bit of Clockwork/Skulker fluff. And yes, Danny will be out of the hospital for the next arc...duh.


	13. Bitter Reunions 1

Yay.

...I bet you can't guess who's being introduced in this chapter. (/sarcasm)

_Disclaimer: I don't own the book __**Gothic Horror: A Guide for Students and Readers**__. It was written by Clive Bloom and published in 2007 (to my knowledge). _

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_**Act 5: Bitter Reunions**_

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**Chapter 13**

"Ohhhhhhh, the _scaaary__ eyes_!"—Vlad, Maternal Instincts and I think in Reign Storm

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"We're going where?" The teenaged halfa known as Daniel 'Danny' Fenton for half of his live, and 'Phantom' for the half of him that was after-alive, asked of his parents in confusion and shock. He had recently healed from a battle with the Lunch Lady ghost—a battle he lost—but he was perfectly fine now. He had been in the hospital for a week, and it has been two weeks since the battle, so he was fine by now. Still, he couldn't help but wonder what challenge he would face next...and hope that he could, you know, actually face it...

It was half-way through an average Sunday...well, average until now. 

"To Wisconsin for our college reunion." Jack Fenton replied to his son happily, running a hand through his messy blonde (but slightly grayed) hair.

Madeline 'Maddie' Fenton, Danny's mother, added, "It's being hosted by an old friend of ours. His name is Vladimir Masters. We were such good friends in college..." She sighed sadly. "Of course, there was an accident, and we haven't seen him since…oh, well, I'm sure he's forgotten all about it, though it did scar his social life forever!" She laughed.

Danny rolled his eyes, _'Knowing our luck, I doubt it. I'm already crept out by that guy...' _He sighed and said aloud, "When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow, sweetie." Maddie smiled, "We'll be gone for the week, as it will take four days to get to Wisconsin."

"Oh, ok. I'm gonna' go hang out with my friends." Danny waved. He ran out the front door to go tell his friends about where he was going. His parents exchanged amused glances.

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The trio were now walking home from the movies, which had followed a very fun day of simply hanging out.

"Your parents were friends in college...with a famous billionaire?" Samantha 'Sam' Manson asked, amazed.

"Yeah, I know, it's weird to me, too!" Danny shrugged.

"Dude, that's awesome!" Tucker Foley smiled, his bluish-green eyes filled with awe, "I mean, you're uncle is _loaded_! Sweet!"

"Tucker!" Sam punched the techno-geek in the shoulder, causing said African American boy to cry out in pain. She then smiled at Danny, "Just a hint...most rich people are conceited snobs, but some of them aren't all bad!"

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Name one rich person who's actually nice?"

"Um...well..." _'Me...'_ "...never mind." Sam smiled nervously.

"I think he sounds awesome, but, you know, that might just be me." Tucker shrugged, fiddling with his PDA. Suddenly, a huge beam of ectoplasmic energy surged through the air, from his PDA. "...Opps."

"Idiot." Scowled Sam.

Danny smiled a little, "Anyway...I'll be gone for a few days. Think you guys can handle the ghosts?"

Tucker grinned, "Yup! Especially the ghost _girl_..." He grinned mischievously.

"...Idiot." Sam repeated herself, annoyed.

"Stop calling me an idiot!"

"Fine, moron!" Sam sneered.

"Oh, yeah, _veggie-girl_!"

"You little piece of...!" Sam angrily grabbed Tucker's PDA and threw it to the ground; she then began stamping on it.

Tucker wailed, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Not my PDA! NOT MY _BABY_!

Danny sighed, _'Why do I even bother?' _"Whatever, guys. I'll see you in a few days." He jumped on his motorized school and rode down the street.

"I hope you're happy...you scared him off." Pouted Sam.

"_I_ scared him off?" Tucker demanded.

"Yes, you!" Sam glared.

"You're the one who destroyed my PDA!"

"You're the one who's a jerk!"

"Look who's _talking_!" Tucker glared venomously at the goth girl.

...In case you're wondering, they argue like this a _lot_.

Sam growled, "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..." Her eyes glowed slightly, as did her hands. The broken pieces of Tucker's PDA all hovered into the air...and hit the techno-geek on the head, causing him to cry out in pain as he hit the ground. Sam's eyes widened as the violet energy faded away. She gasped and leaned down, "Uh, Tucker? Are you ok?"

"Yeah...I think s—wait a minute! How the hell did you do that?" Tucker demanded, standing up.

"Do what?" Sam asked, innocently.

"I...I don't know...your eyes were glowing and...my baby's pieces hit me on the friggin' head!" Tucker winced, rubbing his forehead and glaring down at the pieces of his former-'baby'.

Sam sighed, "Well...Tucker...there's something I really need to tell you...and Danny, when he gets back...you see, I got his book and I've been reading it a lot lately..."

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Later that night, Danny was laying in his bed, sleeping soundly. The room's only light was the moon in the window; that is, the moon was the only light until a familiar huntress-ghost phased through the floor of the room.

Becoming tangible, Skulker mused, _'Now, Clockwork wants me to check on Samantha and read her energy levels...but I have time to read the halfa's, right?' _She mentally shrugged and hovered over to the sleeping form of Danny Fenton. Danny groaned in his sleep, his 'ghost sense' going off despite his unconscious state. He shivered a little, not awake to concentrate on not shivering, but the fact that he was asleep meant he didn't shiver as much as he usually would. 

Skulker tensed a little as the ghost boy stirred. She relaxed when the boy mumbled in his sleep, "Mmmmm...Sam...naughty...girl..." The halfa giggled in his sleep.

Skulker smirked to herself and thought, _'He and that gothic girl should just get together already. Oh, well.' _She scanned Danny with the control pad on her wrist. The scanners told her that Danny had an ecto-rating of **91.36**. Skulker blinked. The boy's power was really impressive for someone who only had ghost powers for three months...though the maximum ecto-rating was **1000**...

Skulker shook her head and went intangible, phasing through the wall.

She wished the boy luck for all the challenges that awaited him...according to what Clockwork had told her, it seemed the boy would need all the luck he could get...

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A few minutes later, Danny was still sleeping soundly when his ghost sense went off. This time, it made him stir a little, but not enough to wake him up—until he fell off the bed. He cried out in pain, but covered his mouth to hold in his moans; he didn't want to wake up anybody. Sighing, Danny sat up and groaned, _'What just happened?' _

As if to answer him, a whisp of blue ecto-mist swirled out of the youngest Fenton's mouth. He sighed.

'_I just _had_ to ask.' _Danny smirked a little, but got serious and whispered, "I'm goin' ghost..." Green ectoplasm quickly spun around him, transforming the halfa into his ghostly alter-ego. Phantom phased out of FentonWorks. Becoming tangible, he asked aloud, "I wonder who it is, this time?"

"Hey, you!" A voice spoke. Phantom blinked and looked around in confusion. "Up here!" Phantom looked up to see a ghost vulture on the roof of FentonWorks. The ghost boy pointed to himself in question. "Yes, you, idiot!" The vulture rolled it's crimson eyes. Phantom floated cautiously over to the green, glowing vulture. 

"Who are you?" Phantom asked, slowly.

The ghost vulture responded, "I'm Collin, a very respected writer in the Ghost Zone, thank you very much! How could you not know me? Oh, right, you live here in the human realm, since you're a halfa..."

Phantom blinked, "How do you know that?"

Collin chuckled, "You're very famous, duh! Well, famous in the Zone, at least...you've been kicking our kind back into our home for almost three months now...though only the evil ones. Then again, the ones of us that aren't so bad usually stay in the Zone..." He sighed.

"Oh...ok...but, uh, what do you want with me?" Phantom asked, curious.

"I just wanted to warn you about a very powerful foe. If the High Council of Observants found out I was warning you, they'd have my head on the platter!" The vulture chuckled softly.

Phantom nodded, "I'll, um, watch my back, thanks." Collin nodded...and vanished. Phantom sighed and went intangible, phasing into his room. 

His ghost sense couldn't pick up on any more ghostly targets, so he floated over his bed. As he hovered over the bed, he clenched green sparks in his hands, which formed a quick tornado of green ecto-energy around him, that de-morphed him into Danny Fenton. He landed on the bed and quickly fell asleep, feeling exhausted.

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A few moments earlier, at Sam's house, Sam had been practicing her magic. She looked into the book and frowned a little. She aimed a hand at a pop can on the floor and concentrated. Violet energy surged to life in her hands, slamming into the can, sending it flying. She smiled a little. 

"Sweet."

She looked at her hand that continued to glow. It faded away gently at will. _'This is so cool...now if only I could do something more complicated.' _She frowned and aimed at the can again. 

With that, she whispered, "**Altiĝo**." Violet energy formed in Sam's hand again as she aimed it at the can. The very same can glowed with the same white energy and...went flying into the air, hit the roof, and then the floor. She winced, _'Ok, that was smooth...' _She frowned in thought and snapped her fingers. She then announced, a bit more clearly, "**Ŝveb**."

The can glowed white again, as it hovered slowly into the air. Sam smiled and moved her hand a little to the left. The can did the same. She moved her hand up, and the can responded the same way. Not amused that much by the spell anymore, she ordered, "**Milde lando.**" The can gently hovered to the ground.

Chuckling the goth girl looked around the room. Seeing her computer, she aimed a violet-glowing hand and commanded clearly, "**Komputilo: malferm**." The computer glowed with violet energy and turned on. Sam then quickly corrected herself, "**Komputilo: ferm!**" The computer glowed violet again and shut off. The computer was pretty loud, and might wake up her—

"Sweeties, what's going on in there?" Pam Manson, Sam's mother, asked from outside of Sam's room.

Sam replied, "Uh, nothing, mom. I'm just, uh, reading." She aimed a hand at a book (**Gothic Horror: A Guide for Students and Readers **by Clive Bloom) and thought to herself, _'__Tie ĉi!' _The book flew into her hands. She blinked, _'Wow, I can think the spells, too...'_ She hid the copy **Dark Magic for Those Who Want To Use It **under her bed and opened the new book just as her mother entered.

Pam was a shapely woman in a modest pink dress, with short blonde hair and icy blue eyes. She raised an eyebrow at her daughter, who pretended to be reading, "Um...why is your book upside-down, Sammie?"

"Um...it's...a new thing teenagers are doing these days?" Sam guessed, smiling nervously. 

"...Oh, sweetie, you and your teenager shenanigans!" Giggled Pam, "Good night!" She happily left the room.

Sam smiled a little. Although her mother was her polar opposite...Sam and Pam didn't have any family left, except each other, so they managed to get along. The goth girl sighed and pulled out **Dark Magic for Those Who Want To Use It** again, to read a little bit more. Something caught her attention...

**It is possible for somebody with a powerful magical aura to use many spells by ****thinking**** them. However, the spells are somewhat weaker if you are thinking them, and may be a bit harder to control. With practice, you will find it easier, of course.**

"Geez...who writes this stuff." Sam wondered, looking at who the author is. She mumbled, "Penelope Spectra? Hmph, never heard of 'er." She shrugged and put the book away. The goth girl put **Gothic Horror: A Guide for Students and Readers** away as well, lying down and closing her eyes...

She didn't notice Skulker watch this scene, half-way phased through the wall, both invisible and intangible. The huntress-ghost smirked and phased back through the wall. _'She is much more powerful then I thought...Clockwork is right, she can handle it. I shouldn't have ever doubted him, I guess...'_ Skulker flew towards FentonWorks, ready to get home.

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Hm, some drama...such as Tucker and Sam having that major argument—they've argued before, but the one in this chapter was even worse then usual—oh, and Tucker found out about Sam's new 'ability'. Being in contact with the book has...well, it's unlocked her true magical potential...which will be a major sub-plot for this story arc, one that doesn't really affect the main one, but...

Also, Skulker had been invisible when he scanned Sam.

**Trivia: **The words Sam says to use her spells are Esperanto again. As it was hinted at in the last chapter, there are very close ties between ghosts and magic...and Esperanto, remember, is a general language among ghosts...


	14. Bitter Reunions 2

...MERP.

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story, unless it is something you do not recognize from real life. Search it up, and if it's something owned by someone else...it's theirs, not mine. This includes all the books Sam is always reading and...stuff.**_

Yeah.

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**Chapter 14**

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The Fenton Family Ghost Assual Vehicle...um...the Fenton RV rode down the road that lead out of Amity Park. Danny glanced out the back window to still see his friends waving after him. They had been acting a little weirdly, but the clueless Danny Fenton assumed it was because of their argument the day before. Danny sighed sadly. He and Sam hadn't really talked about the first time Sam had visited him in the hospital—in fact, it was almost like it hadn't happened...and Danny wasn't sure if he really wanted it that way...

"What's with you?" Jazz spoke, startling Danny a little, but not enough to make his ghost powers go whack—fortunately for him.

"Oh, um...I was just thinking...Jazz, can I talk to you about something?" Danny asked.

Jazz blinked, "Um, well, yeah! I'm your sister, Danny, you can tell me anything." She smiled softly.

Danny glanced back out the window for a moment; he looked back at Jazz and said, "Something...happened between me and Sam when I was in the hospital—and I'm fine, so stop asking, 'k!—and...I don't know what to do." He sighed, looking down at his feet.

Jazz frowned a little, "What do you mean by 'something'?" She grinned, "Oooooooo, did you _kiiiiiiss_?"

"...Sort of, yeah." Danny sighed, "She kissed me...it was just a quick one...and...it's like she's just...forgotten about it..." He trailed off.

"And you don't." It was a statement, not a question.

Danny blinked, "N-No...I don't think I do..."

Jazz smiled knowingly, but Danny didn't notice as he was staring into space thoughtfully. The redhead asked, "Do you want it to mean something?"

Danny stared at her, "Yeah...yeah, I think I do." Danny's eyes widened, "Is that...wrong of me?"

"It's not wrong to have feelings for someone." Rolled Jazz, "Even if she happens to be your best friend." 

"I...guess..." Danny sighed. He froze as his 'ghost sense' activated. He nervously looked out the back window; he held in a gasp. Skulker hovered there with a smile on her face. She put her finger up to her mouth to tell him to be quiet. Danny gulped nervously. Skulker then went invisible, flying up into the sky. 

Danny shook his head.

He had a bad feeling about this...a very bad feeling.

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"We're here!" Jack beamed. Danny stared at the mansion in shock.

"Um...wow. He really is loaded." Danny mumbled. Jazz nudged him. "Ow! What?"

"Danny, be polite. I bet this man is very nice." Jazz said, knowledgably. 

Danny blinked, "Whatever you say, Jazz, whatever you say..." _'I wonder how Sam and Tucker are doing...?'_

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Meanwhile, back in Amity Park, Illinois, Sam was reading **Dark Magic for Those Who Want To Use It** (which she simply dubbed '**Dark Magic**') during lunch, half-heartedly eating her salad. Tucker suddenly spoke, startling the goth girl, "So...you're a witch."

"**Fermita ĝin, Foley.**" Sam hissed. She was so caught up in the new language she had accidentally used it! 

Unfortunately, now that her magical aura was now unleashed to it's maximum power, all Esperanto she tries to use accidentally ends up as a spell (if she says something that couldn't be mistaken as a spell, she'd accidentally just shoot a blast of energy that could do damage).

So, violet energy shot from her finger, surrounded Tucker's mouth, and shut his mouth. Tucker's eyes widened. Sam blinked and watched as the violet glow faded away. She looked around the hallway (where the friends were eating while sitting on the floor) nervously. She sighed in relief; nobody was in the hallway to have seen it.

Sam sighed and said, clearly, "**Vi povus paroli.**" The energy around Tucker's mouth vanished and she rubbed the back of her neck nervously, "Sorry, Tuck. I've, um, been reading a bit too much about this." She sighed.

"Dudette...that was awesome. Imagine what you could _do_ with this!" Tucker was in awe.

"Ugh, no way. I need to use this gift for good...I'm...I'm gonna' use it to help Danny fight ghosts." Sam said, seriously.

"Whoa! Sam, Danny isn't going to—!"

"Let me do that, I _know_." Sam groaned, covering her eyes with her hands sadly, "...I'm going home."

Tucker blinked, "What? But you can't..."

Sam smirked smugly, "Or can I?" She walked off calmly.

"Whatever..." Tucker rolled his eyes and bit down into his burger. 

Sam paused and looked over her shoulder. With a wider smirk, she thought, _'__**Ŝveb.**__' _The burger hovered out of Tucker's hand. The techno-geek's jaw dropped as the burger slapped him in the face.

"OW! Sam!" Tucker glared. Sam grinned and quickly disappeared behind the corner. Tucker sighed. 

Maybe Sam having magic wasn't going to be that great...

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Sam was glad her mother wasn't home for the day. So, she had the house to herself; she was looking through the rather large closet. She smiled when she found some clothes she had not worn before. There was a black and purple shirt that showed off her midriff and a pure black skirt; there were also a pair of black combat boots that were in a different style then the ones she had on. 

Though, it wouldn't really matter if she wore an outfit that somebody had already seen her in...there were some spells to keep people from thinking you were who you were herself.

The goth girl hesitated and thought about some other changes. _'Wait, I know!'_ She whispered aloud to herself, "Oh, yeah...I've always wanted to do this..." Sam raised a purple-glowing hand to her hair and whispered, "**Ruĝa**..." She moved her hand down along her hair, smiling into the mirror when she saw that the part of her hair she moved her hand on was now a crimson red. Sam then whispered again, "**Nigra**." Without needing to move her hand along her hair, the red became black again.

'_Perhaps I should go for a test run...' _Mused the goth girl. She smirked and, taking the new clothes, dived into the closet.

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Meanwhile, somewhere in Wisconsin...

Jack knocked on the door, which was answered by a middle-aged man wearing a black business suit. He had gray hair and dark blue eyes. The orange jumpsuited man said, "V-man!"

"Jack..." Vlad blinked and half-glared at him. He then smiled at Maddie, "and Maddie, you look great. And these two must be Daniel and Jasmine..."

"It's, um, Danny." The halfa boy pointed out. Jazz nudged him and he grunted, "Ow! Stop that!"

Jazz smiled sweetly, "I'm sorry about my brother, Mr. Masters. He can be a little rude at times."

Danny frowned, but didn't remark.

Vlad chuckled, "Ah, I remember when I was your age...hm..." He sighed. "...A long time ago..." The man looked down at his feet for a moment, but shook his head. "Anyway, come on in, all of you!" He smiled and walked into the mansion. The family followed leisurely. Danny was a little reluctant...something about Vlad...crept him out...

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Later that night, Danny walked down the hallway in his ('manly'-)salmon-colored pajamas to the bathroom. However, his 'ghost sense' went off. He dived into a closet and morphed into Phantom quickly. He phased through the door and looked around, _'Where's the ghost?'_

"Psst!" A voice hissed.

The ghost boy spun around to see...Collin? "What are _you_ doing here?" Phantom asked, incredulous.

Collin frowned, "You shouldn't have come here, ghost boy..."

"Why?" Phantom blinked in confusion.

"_Because _the owner of this mansion is a very dangerous demon!" Hissed the ghost vulture.

"_What_? Vlad Masters is a ghost?" Phantom asked, shocked.

Another voice joined the conversation, "Wow, bright boy." Phantom spun around _again_ to see Plasmius hovering there with his muscled chest crossed. 

Phantom blinked, "Wh-who...are you?"

"Didn't you just figure it out?" Plasmius sneered, "I am Vlad Plasmius, my boy...and the owner of this house..."

"You're...you're Mr. Masters? A ghost disguises as a billionaire...weird." Phantom shook his head.

Plasmius rolled his eyes, "Actually, _Daniel_, I'm only _half_-ghost, _just_ like _you_." He smirked, "Phantom...or should I say...Danny Fenton?" 

Phantom stared at him in shock, "But...how do you...kn-know that?" 

The vampire-esque ghost snorted darkly, "Oh, please. It's not that hard to figure out. Phantom, Fenton...seriously..." Plasmius rolled his eyes. "So you use your powers for _good_? How _quant_..."

"Wait...what about you? What have you been doing with your powers?" Phantom glared suspiciously.

"Oh, you know, band robberies, buying companies by overshadowing their presidents, killing the competition..." Plasmius sneered. Phantom shuddered at the pure malevolence radiating off of this ghost. Plasmius suddenly clenched red ecto-energy in his fists. "Such as yourself..." He put his fists together and unleashed a huge blast from them. Phantom cried out in pain as he hit the wall—hard.

Collin sighed, "Well, I tried." He went intangible and phased through the wall, a crimson red ecto-blast skimming his tail. 

Plasmius turned his attention back to Danny—to be punched in the face. Plasmius hit the wall and smirked, "Wow...we're not that different, are we? I mean, hitting your foe when he's not paying attention?" 

"I'm...not like you." Retorted Phantom, hovering into the air; for once, he didn't enter a dramatic battle pose, as he was simply in a 'standing' position in mid air.

"You keep telling yourself that, Daniel...you keep telling yourself that." Plasmius sighed...and fired a _huge_, crimson blast. Phantom cried out in pain as the blast surrounded him, creating an orb of painful energy that hurt him for almost a minute. Tears of pain reached the poor ghost boy's eyes by the time the energy orb disappeared. He hit the ground, his face buried in his arms as he fell unconscious. A tornado of green energy surged around him, de-morphing him into Danny Fenton.

Plasmius mused, _'My ghostly spies aren't full of crap...he really is the ghost boy...hm...I could use this to my advantage...another half-ghost like me...' _He smiled at the thought...

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There...


End file.
